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First Nations, feds opposed to secret pipeline filings

Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Sep 30/05) - The companies behind the Mackenzie Valley pipeline should not be allowed to file "critical" technical data with regulators in secret, the Deh cho First Nations and Ottawa said last week.

They worry the environmental review process could be undermined by an application from Imperial Oil - the lead player in the $7 billion natural gas pipeline - to file research with the National Energy Board in confidence.

"This information is very important from a geo-technical perspective," said Joe Acorn, lead regulatory officer with the Deh Gah Alliance, which represents the Deh cho in pipeline talks.

"Therefore it should be subject to scrutiny."

Imperial asked the National Energy Board for permission late last month to confidentially file studies on so-called frost heave. The research, which comes from an Alaskan firm, examined how underground pipelines shift in half-frozen Northern soils.

Imperial's application would not allow groups like the Deh cho First Nations or the federal government to review the studies. Some officials consider the information vital to the construction of the pipeline, which will face several technical hurdles en route from the Beaufort Sea to Northern Alberta.

"The independent evaluation and analysis of this evidence...is essential to ensure that the pipeline is safely constructed to withstand the Northern environment," Acorn wrote to the National Energy Board. The board is one of two bodies conducting regulatory hearings into the proposed pipeline.

The sub-surface wriggling of the pipeline remains a challenge for designers. Studies have shown frost heave, which is the movement of partially frozen soil, can cause underground pipelines to buckle or rupture.

The federal government sided with the Deh cho First Nations last week and called on Imperial to disclose its data in a letter to the National Energy Board.

"Indian and Northern Affairs Canada believes all such evidence must be on the public record and subject to scrutiny," wrote David Milburn, manager of the Water Resources Review Team with the department.

The data in question came from the Alaska Northwest Natural Gas Transportation Company and dates to the early 1980s. In letters to the board, Imperial said the Alaskan company agreed to hand over the studies so long as they remained confidential. Acorn said Imperial should have conducted its own studies and issues of propriety should not prevent critical data from becoming public.

"They should have taken that into consideration," he said.

A spokesperson from Imperial Oil was not available for comment.

Acorn expected the National Energy Board to rule on the issue sometime soon. If the board decided against the First Nations and government, Acorn said it would set a bad precedent for the review hearings, which could enter their public phase within the next four months.

Those hearings could last more than a year and the pipeline is not expected to siphon gas from Beaufort Delta until 2010.