Fort Simpson (Apr 26/04) - Significant public concern has led the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board to refer the Mackenzie Gas Project to a higher level of scrutiny, through a joint review environmental assessment panel.

Board chair Todd Burlingame said there was "absolutely no doubt" that significant public concern was expressed at all the pipeline hearings.

The joint panel review, once authorized by the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, will trigger a new round of consultations in communities along the pipeline corridor.

The Inuvialuit and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) have already referred the project to a joint panel review.

The letter recommending a higher level of public scrutiny was sent to Indian Affairs Minister Andy Mitchell. It asks Mitchell to allow the review board to enter into negotiations with the federal minister of the environment for setting up the review panel, said Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board spokesman Roland Semjanovs.

"The three parties, MVEIRB, the Inuvialuit and CEAA, will get together and essentially nominate names as members of the joint review panel," said Semjanovs.

Come September, the panel is expected to be established.

"The length of the process is up to the joint review panel. It comes down to the quality of the information they're dealing with," said Semjanovs.

Senator provides warning

NWT senator Nick Sibbeston didn't mince words during a hearing in Fort Simpson last week.

The "incestuous little group of corporate buddies" in Calgary will encounter opposition to the Mackenzie Valley pipeline project if NWT communities aren't provided a fair share of business opportunities, Senator Nick Sibbeston warned.

"We get the tidbits. We get the crumbs. There's no respect," he said.

"It's not the federal government's land. It's the land of the Dene people... if you just get that straight I think things will go a lot better," Sibbeston told representatives from Imperial Oil and members of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board.

Furthermore, Sibbeston, also a former territorial government leader, challenged Imperial Oil's senior vice-president, K.C. Williams, to leave his "lush" Calgary office and visit the Deh Cho in person.

"We need to talk to the top guys," he said. "He needs to be here to deal with the people... he doesn't have the guts. I challenge him."

Former premier Jim Antoine told Imperial Oil executives that they should have obtained First Nations' permission to use the land before considering the pipeline.

Peter Grout, manager of regulatory affairs for Imperial's Mackenzie Gas Project, replied that the Producer's Group is following a phase approach.

He said that Imperial Oil recognizes the Deh Cho self-government process is ongoing. Consequently, the Deh Cho people and the federal government must both be involved in issues surrounding land access.

"That's just a reality," he said.