.
Search
 Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad  Print this page

Vale Island residents oppose pipeline camp

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (July 31/06) - The message was loud and clear at a sometimes boisterous and emotional community meeting last week on Hay River's Vale Island.

Virtually all 50 or so island residents at the July 25 gathering don't want a camp for workers with the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline in their backyards.

NNSL Photo/graphic

Dee Brandes, the manager of consultation and community affairs with the Mackenzie Gas Project, listens to comments at a July 25 community meeting in Hay River. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo


"Think of another location," Beatrice Lepine told representatives of the Mackenzie Gas Project, which hosted the meeting. "That's the bottom line."

The camp would house up to 425 people in Hay River while the pipeline is being built. The town would be the main barging point for construction material coming from the south via highway and rail.

Lepine's sentiments were echoed by others at the meeting.

"We don't want that camp on Vale Island, at all," said Chief Karen Felker of West Point First Nation. It would result in more traffic on the island, she said.

"Why can't you put it five miles out of Hay River?"

Felker is prepared to launch a petition and bring the issue to Dehcho First Nations.

A camp on Vale Island isn't an option, she said. "I can tell you now, it won't happen."

The camp could hurt tourism at the nearby Hay River Beach, devaluate nearby properties and change the cottage lifestyle on Vale Island, according to residents.

"We all live down here because we like the lifestyle," said Jim Constable.

Warren Gibb agreed the camp would negatively affect the quality of life on Vale Island.

"Would you want a camp this size near where you live?" he asked the pipeline representatives.

Others worried camp workers would bring more drugs and alcohol into the community.

However, there would be zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol at the camp, officials said. Workers would not be allowed to leave the camp, except to travel to their jobs, under the conditions of their employment. The camp would be built adjacent to the Northern Transportation Company Ltd. yard on land leased from the firm.

There would also be a parking area across the Mackenzie Highway.

However, Imperial Oil's Dee Brandes, the pipeline's manager of consultation and community affairs, said a new site will have to be considered given the reaction of residents.

"This has got to change and we've got to find a new solution," she said. "It will most likely mean moving the camp off the island," Brandes said.

Finding another site could take months, she said.

However, if an off-island site cannot be found to satisfy the project's needs and bottom line, the proponents might return to proposing the Vale Island site.

Residents suggested alternate locations including Hay River Airport, the intersection of Highway 5 and Highway 2, or south of town.

After the meeting, Chief Alec Sunrise of K'atlodeeche First Nation said it's possible Hay River Reserve might consider accepting a small camp of maybe 200 people, if it was spread out.

However, Sunrise said he really doesn't expect that to happen.

There was not unanimous opposition to the camp.

"I'm not sure why everyone is so opposed to this project," said one man, noting it will mean jobs and enormous economic benefits to Hay River.

Others in the audience said they aren't opposed to the overall pipeline project, just the location of the camp.

"It's a good thing, just the wrong place," Gibb said. "For me, it's a no-brainer."

The Town of Hay River has known for years that a camp would be coming to the community, and its proposed location has been mentioned at previous public meetings.

"Seriously, this is still all speculative," said Mayor Diana Ehman following last week's meeting.

She said no agreement has been signed and no development application has been submitted.