Fort Simpson (Feb 18/05) - Imperial Oil has missed out on the necessary permits for its proposed winter Deh Cho geo-technical work for the third consecutive year.

Contracts associated with the project, which would primarily consist of soil sampling, amounted to approximately $14.5 million. Most of those contracts had been conditionally awarded to area First Nations and their joint venture partners.

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB) is expected to forward its environmental assessment report on the proposed Deh Cho geo-tech work to the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in Ottawa this week. It generally takes a minimum of four weeks for the minister to review and return submissions from the board, according to Roland Semjanovs, communications officer for the MVEIRB.

That time lag will make it impossible for Imperial Oil to mobilize its workforce and equipment within the remainder of the winter season, Imperial's spokesperson Hart Searle said Monday.

The multi-national oil and gas company's executives are very disappointed and frustrated with their lack of success in securing permits once again, Searle said.

"The business community is ready, contracts are conditionally awarded, everything is ready to go and we can't pull the trigger.

"It's very frustrating," he said, referring to the environmental assessment process as "protracted."

Hearings on the proposed project were held in Fort Simpson in early December.

Semjanovs said the board is striving to produce a report that won't require the minister to modify or clarify it. He acknowledged that the review board regularly wrestles with its mandate to be thorough while still trying to be expedient.

"That's a constant trade-off," he said. "If I can throw in that analogy of that sign in a fast food restaurant: 'Good food takes time. Yours will be ready in a second.'"

Should the MVEIRB report be approved by the DIAND minister, and should any prescribed conditions be acceptable to Imperial Oil, the geo-tech project would be cleared to proceed next winter.

Duncan Canvin, interim president of the Fort Simpson Chamber of Commerce, criticized the MVEIRB for taking so long, but said he doesn't have much sympathy for Imperial Oil.

"Esso's a big boy's company. They knew what the challenges were. They knew that they should have filed a long time ago," he said. "Everything will be in place for next winter, so it will just be the willingness of Esso to see that the work gets done and that some of the benefits flow to the communities." Canvin added that he is hoping Imperial Oil will retain the contractors it conditionally selected for this year.

Imperial Oil is proceeding with geo-tech programs in the Gwich'in and Beaufort-Delta regions as well as within the municipality of Norman Wells, Searle noted. None of those projects required an environmental assessment.