Yellowknife (Apr 29/05) - A trio of environmental groups is asking the federal and territorial governments to fess up about the real implications of the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project.

The Sierra Club of Canada, Ecology North and the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance charge that the pipeline will cripple Canada's attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet Kyoto targets by 2010.

Ecology North board member Kevin Kennedy signs the Mackenzie Wild declaration opposing the construction of the Mackenzie Gas Project, at a press conference Tuesday.

If the pipeline is built, the resulting industrialization of the Mackenzie Valley will increase greenhouse gas emissions at a time when Canada is trying to reduce them to six per cent below 1990 levels, they say.

Kevin Kennedy, a board member with Ecology North, says the group wants the pipeline to be greenhouse gas neutral, meaning that for every tonne of emissions produced another tonne is eliminated.

The groups say the majority of the six trillion cubic feet of natural gas that will be extracted from the Mackenzie Delta is destined for the tar sands of Alberta, where it will be used to extract oil.

Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club. cites a recent study by Imperial Oil, one of the proponents of the pipeline, admitting that the demand for the gas will come from tar sands development as proof of the final destination of the gas.

Recent references by Ralph Klein, as well as national news coverage in the rest of Canada, also back up the claim, says May.

The proponents of the pipeline - Imperial Oil, Conoco Phillips, Shell Canada, the Aboriginal Pipeline Group and Exxon Mobil - say only that the oil will go to North American markets.

"It's clear that politically, the ministers of this government would rather not admit to the people of the NWT that the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) is all about fuel and climate change," says May.

Concern for social effects

The groups are also concerned about the social effects on NWT communities, says Kennedy.

"We think development in the North can happen without damaging our environment and that there are sustainable ways to do things. Currently what we are seeing from proponents of the MGP is that they don't intend to do it in a sustainable way, so we can't support that until the time comes when they find ways to mitigate some of these impacts we've identified," he says.

Jennifer Duncan, co-founder of the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance, also denounced the project for the negative impact it will have on traditional hunting practices and aboriginal people in the North. The three groups are asking Northerners and Canadians to sign the Mackenzie Wild declaration opposing the $7 billion pipeline.

The national campaign was launched in Ottawa last week and announced again in Yellowknife ,Tuesday.

The Sierra Club plans to present the total declarations collected across Canada to the federal and territorial governments, as well as other bureaucrats and industry.