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Mackenzie seismic on hold

WesternGeco's proposal referred to environmental assessment

Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (July 12/02) - A Calgary-based seismic company's plan to scope the Mackenzie and Liard Rivers for oil and gas potential will have to wait until next year.

WesternGeco Canada Ltd. had hoped to begin an estimated $20 million seismic project along 1,800 kilometres of river this year.

However, federal regulators expressed concerns about potential effects the acoustic methods may have on fish and other aquatic life.

They have referred the proposal to the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB) for a possible environmental assessment.

Steve Whidden, an account manager for WesternGeco, said his company was prepared for the delay and is willing to undertake the two-dimensional seismic program next year instead.

Whidden said the seismic method WesternGeco plans to use has been done all over the world, including the Beaufort-Delta last summer.

He explained that it involves releasing bubbles of compressed air that oscillate, creating sound waves that can be recorded.

"It's not like in the old days when dynamite was thrown in the water and creates a big pressure wave that kills fish," he said.

Joe Acorn, an environmental assessment officer with the MVEIRB, said he can find no confirmation of similar programs having been conducted in the NWT. Examples from other jurisdictions are useful, but not entirely applicable, according to Acorn.

"There are different species here. It is a different environment," he said.

"So (regulators) want some site-specific, test program data from up here that they can use to predict what the impacts might be."

Whidden replied that his company, in conjunction with the DFO, is willing conduct a monitoring test program this year to verify that there will be no significant environmental consequences.