Inuvik (Feb 14/03) - Last October, Roland Priddle was appointed as a ministerial representative to Herb Dhaliwal, minister of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), and Robert Nault, minister of the Department of Indian and Northern Development (DIAND), to oversee current pipeline issues.

While most understood Priddle's work to come in the form of a final report, he says he is providing an ongoing service -- updating the ministers and acting as point of contact for the stakeholders in both the Mackenzie Valley proposal and the Alaska proposals.

"I don't have a mandate to draw my conclusions in a published report," Priddle said. "I have been making periodic reports to the deputy ministers at DIAND and NRCan."

Priddle couldn't comment on specific details of his reportage, but did clarify what his mandate includes.

"I'm here to help expedite the process that leads to a formal application to the regulatory bodies," he said.

He will act as point person to the explorers, producers, the pipeline companies as well as territorial and federal governments to help ease the way to regulation.

Regulation is done through a complex quasi-judicial process through the National Energy Board and the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board which cannot be interfered with by any form of government or their consultants.

"The producer's group will have to go entirely on their own in making the regulatory application," Priddle said. "The government cannot and must not try to tell the regulators anything."

He says the biggest hurdle in the process so far, for the Mackenzie Gas Project has been with the project information package and how the Aboriginal Pipeline Group (APG) will finance their one-third ownership of the $4-billion pipeline.

"The delay seems to have been with the APGs concerns with financing," he said.

The APG now needs an estimated $200 million in financing to get through the project definition phase.

"This is just to get the project to the stage of whether or not to take the final commercial decision to go ahead," he said.

Drum sources say the deal is all but complete, with some factors on interest rates and terms still to be ironed out.

Priddle said the project has the support of all the players, so that will definitely speed the process.