NWT - Initial reactions to the National Energy Board's approval of the Mackenzie Gas Project are positive, yet dampened by a feeling that a window of opportunity for the long-delayed pipeline may have been missed.

Karla Kuptana was at the Inuvik Centennial Library at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 16 to pick-up the National Energy Board's ruling on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline just out of curiosity. Of the pipeline she said, "it sounds like a good thing." - Aaron Beswick/NNSL photo

On Thursday, the NEB granted regulatory approval for the $16.2 billion pipeline six years after the proponents, led by Imperial Oil, submitted their application for the project.

"I'm elated, of course, that it's a go," said O.D. Hansen, manager of communications for the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, which stands to distribute one third of the pipeline's profits among the aboriginal groups whose territory falls along the pipeline's path.

At the same time, "Usually when you get a permit, (the reaction) should be one of unbridled joy because it's a signal to go ahead," added Hansen.

But that isn't the case with the pipeline "because of some of the issues, low (natural gas) prices being one of them, and because ... we need some type of fiscal framework agreement with the federal government to ensure that this project is economical," Hansen said.

The NEB said its approval of the project is dependent on more than 200 conditions being met by the proponents, who also include Exxon Mobil Corp, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. That includes a requirement that construction of the 1,200-kilometre pipeline begin by the end of 2015.

Pius Rolheiser, spokesperson for Imperial Oil, said meeting that deadline could prove difficult if a positive fiscal agreement with the federal government is not in place.

"We would need to have sufficient confidence in a fiscal agreement with the federal government before we could make a decision to restaff the project and resume engineering work, permitting work," Rolheiser said from Calgary.

Imperial Oil previously stated that that work would take three years to complete, pointing out that several thousand permits will need to be in hand before construction can begin. The company previously requested to have until 2016 to decide whether to proceed with building the pipeline.

The NEB's decision calls for the proponents "to file an updated cost estimate and report on their decision to build the pipeline" by the end of 2013.

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