Alberta Tar Sands Pipelines

CALGARY — The Mackenzie Gas Project has been approved by federal regulators, marking a new chapter in a 30-year pursuit of Arctic natural gas riches by southern producers and a territorial government seeking economic independence.

"We looked at how the project would contribute to sustainability in the way it would affect the people, the land where they live, and the economy, now and in the future," the panel said in its lengthy decision, which also included 264 conditions that must be met by the developers.

"We recognize that the Mackenzie Gas Project would have much larger and more far-reaching effects than previous developments in the North. "

Supporters of the $16.2-billion pipeline, the largest capital project to be undertaken in Canada, greeted the National Energy Board's decision Thursday with unabashed enthusiasm.

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NADLEH WHUT'EN, DAKELH TERRITORIES, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Dec. 16, 2010) - The Yinka Dene Alliance, a group of five First Nations with territories along and near the proposed route of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, have rejected Enbridge's offer of an equity stake in the project, and have instead served a legal Declaration on Enbridge's headquarters in Calgary stating that the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines are not allowed through their territories, according to ancestral laws.

The Declaration was agreed to on December 2 by representatives of 61 First Nations, and because the document has legal status, it was delivered by a process server directly to Enbridge's CEO Pat Daniel and Enbridge's board of directors. The Declaration was previously left at the locked door of Enbridge's Vancouver offices when employees refused to let two representatives of the First Nations enter.... Read more »

CALGARY - The federal energy watchdog is set to announce its decision on the long-delayed Mackenzie pipeline later Thursday, but even if the National Energy Board says "yes," it's not certain the project will become a reality.

Mackenzie's lead partner, Imperial Oil Ltd. (TSX:IMO), won't decide whether to go ahead for years, and has said the earliest the project could start up is 2018.

"I've likened the Mackenzie project to Monty Python's Blue Norwegian Parrot. If it's not deceased, it sure looks like it," said Stephen Hazell, who participated in the lengthy regulatory hearings on behalf of the environmental group Sierra Club.

The proposed 1,220-kilometre pipeline would carry natural gas from near the coast of the Beaufort Sea in the Northwest Territories to southern markets.

CALGARY - A group of First Nations along the proposed route of a West Coast crude oil pipeline is saying "no" to taking an equity stake in the controversial project.

The company behind the Nortern Gateway project, Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB), has been in talks with groups along the corridor about offering them a 10 per cent stake in the project.

The Yina Dene Alliance, which represents five B.C. First Nations, says it has turned down Enbridge's offer.

It says it has also delivered a legal declaration, signed by 61 First Nations, to Enbridge's Calgary headquarters barring the company from its territories.

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