[R-G] Mackenzie Valley pipeline hearings wrap up in Inuvik

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Since the hearings have successfully carried the lie and the crime 
against the environment of not being a cumulative impact assessment-- 
steadfastly ruling that the hearings could not cover the tar sands, and 
included denials and obfuscations of the final end goal of the natural 
gas being to help ramp up the ecological, genocidal and grotesquely 
anti-human tar sands operations north of Fort Muck, it should be VERY 
CLEAR why the North Central Corridor was officially announced only as 
the hearings on the MGP are finishing.

 From the Dehcho to the Lubicon to Fort Chipewyan and more, the 
cumulative impacts of the plans are astronomical, and those of us who 
wish to see the bigger picture need to do two things: Block the North 
Central Corridor, prevent nukes from being built to do even worse 
exploration (in limestone) near the traditional territory of the 
Lubicon, and poison the waterways of the Athabasca, Slave and the Deh Cho.

We also need to start looking ahead, and not be merely reactive to these 
plans when they are announced officially. The plans for North Central 
were actually spelled out by TransCanada more than 3 years ago. The same 
with the nuclear plants. We should stop being surprised when they do 
exactly what they mumble that they are going to do.

--M

Mackenzie Valley pipeline hearings wrap up in Inuvik
Last Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2007 | 3:31 PM CT
CBC News

Public hearings on the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline in 
the Northwest Territories ended Thursday, as the panel reviewing the 
environmental and socio-economic impacts of the project now moves to the 
task of writing its final report.

Hearings finished Thursday morning in Inuvik with closing comments from 
Imperial Oil, the lead proponent in the $16.2-billion gas project.

Imperial, as part of a consortium of companies, want to build the 
1,200-kilometre pipeline through the Northwest Territories to the 
Alberta border, where Arctic natural gas would connect to existing 
pipelines and flow to southern markets.

Joint Review Panel chairman Robert Hornal said the task of writing the 
report "isn't a small one," but he declined to say when it will be 
finished. A spokesperson for the panel said it will try to have it 
finished for the middle of next year.

During the panel's consultation work, which spanned nearly two years, it 
visited 26 communities, generated more than 11,000 pages of transcripts, 
and received about 5,000 submissions.

It spent Wednesday and Thursday in Inuvik hearing final comments from 
aboriginal and municipal leaders, many of whom supported the project, as 
well as the proponents themselves.

"Based on what we have heard from northerners such as these, both 
aboriginal and non-aboriginal, we conclude that the North is ready for 
development and the Mackenzie gas project," Randy Ottenbreit, Imperial's 
executive in charge of development of the Mackenzie pipeline, told the 
panel Wednesday.
'Go home,' aboriginal leader tells 'southern' critics

Aboriginal and municipal leaders are particularly looking forward to the 
economic opportunities they expect from the pipeline, which promises to 
pump thousands of jobs and billions of dollars into the N.W.T.

Such supporters say they are annoyed with critics who live in southern 
Canada, particularly the Sierra Club of Canada. The environmental group 
has argued that the pipeline would boost greenhouse gas emissions and 
worsen climate change.

Gwich'in Tribal Council president Fred Carmichael told the panel that he 
has no time for those points of view.

"interveners from southern Canada were trying to dictate what they think 
is best for our people and our land and our future," he said Wednesday.

"These southern interveners do not live here, for the most part, and 
probably never will. I say to them, 'go home.'"

Carmichael insisted that his people have taken care of the land for 
thousands of years, and they will decide whether the pipeline is a good 
idea.

But other interveners, such as the Inuvialuit Fisheries Joint Management 
Committee, urged the panel not to readily accept the proponent's 
assertion that the pipeline will not have any substantial downside.

"If the [Mackenzie gas project] is to proceed, it is critical that your 
recommendations on environmental protection, science and monitoring be 
implemented immediately," said Lawrence Amos, a fisheries committee 
member from Sachs Harbour, N.W.T.

Despite the thousands of pages of evidence and transcripts, the 
committee and other interveners say the panel does not have enough 
information about how the project will be monitored and any problems 
remedied.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/11/29/jrp-hearings.html

-- 
Macdonald Stainsby
Coordinator, http://oilsandstruth.org
--
moderated radical news & discussion list:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green

In the contradiction lies the hope.
    --Bertholt Brecht.