Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 23/02) - Premier Stephen Kakfwi continues to support the ratification of the Kyoto protocol despite warnings from oil companies that clamping down on greenhouse gases could destroy Northern hopes for a natural gas pipeline.

One of the most important demands for natural gas from the Beaufort Delta will come from the oil sands industry in northern Alberta, said Steve Laut, executive vice- president of operations for Canadian Natural Resources. His company is spending billions of dollars building infrastructure to access the oil reserves, but he warns that Kyoto could stop all of that.

"If we don't know what happens on Kyoto they may not go ahead," he said.

To extract one barrel of tar sands oil requires about 400 cubic feet of natural gas, he said. Canadian Natural Resources alone hopes to recover 6.2 billion barrels of oil, which would require some 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- gas which would likely flow from the Delta.

"I don't think many people understand the impact of Kyoto -- what it means to not just tar sands players, but gas players as well," said Laut.

The oil sands of northern Alberta are huge reserves of oil-enriched earth that companies are lining up to extract.

Yellowknife chamber of commerce president Dave McPherson has also warned that the protocol could chill investors' willingness to pump money into a northern pipeline.

But Kafkwi blamed oil companies for "trying to take a shot at us for supporting Kyoto."

"There's U.S. demand for gas and I wouldn't worry about it," he said.

The premier has suggested that natural gas will be a necessary component in any response to the Kyoto protocol, which calls for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.

The Canadian government has not yet ratified the protocol, but prime minister Jean Chretien has promised to do so by the end of his term as prime minister.

The territorial government has repeatedly said it supports the protocol because of the adverse effects of climate change in the North, including changes to animal migratory patterns and impacts on traditional ways of life.

However, neither the GNWT nor anyone else in Canada knows yet how the protocol would be implemented, so support for the protocol is still blind. However, MLAs and Cabinet ministers are waiting for an announcement by Ottawa on Oct. 28, when the federal government will announce a preliminary strategy for meeting Kyoto emissions targets.

"We know climate change is having a very strong effect on our country and our wildlife, and we want something done. Kyoto is the only show in town," said Kakfwi, adding "we're not going to do anything that's going to do great (economic) damage to us."