CanadaEast, 02/06
BOB WEBER INUVIK, N.W.T. (CP) - Randall (Boogie) Pokiak has been hunting and trapping everything from mink to grizzly bear on the very tip of the Mackenzie Delta for most of his 56 years, and if anyone feels social or environmental effects from a proposed $7-billion energy development down the Mackenzie Valley, it'll be him.

"The best deal for a trapper or a hunter is that nothing takes place," Pokiak said Thursday after addressing a panel assessing the impact of a proposed pipeline and gas fields. One of those gas fields is directly adjacent to Pokiak's trapline.

"The best ideal conditions is that environment and wildlife stay the way it is. But we know that there's this activity going on, and it's impacting on us."

Pokiak, the first actual northerner unconnected with either the project or a government to address the Joint Review Panel, quizzed Imperial Oil's project head Randy Ottenbreit on the company's plans for ensuring the rules are followed during construction, for monitoring and for dealing with emergencies.

Ottenbreit offered his best reassurances.

"There's a way to co-exist," Pokiak concluded.

Development has already forced Pokiak to move once, and he knows that it's likely to happen again. And that will cost him time and money.

"We had to go somewhere else to trap because there's so much activity going on. And when you move to another location, it's that much more costly."

The changes are coming at a time when people such as him are already trying to figure out how animals will adjust to climate change.

"The species are starting to adjust to a change in the weather," he said. "We're getting real changes in the movement of that wildlife, and at the same time we're going to have to adjust to all the activity that's going on in the anchor fields and also the future development of that area."

Two other groups expressed concern about the project's costs - and told the panel that the proponents should cover them.

Gerri Sharpe-Staples of the N.W.T. Status of Women Council pointed to a report the group had compiled after interviews with women up and down the valley. They listed concerns from increased sexually transmitted disease and family violence to cultural erosion as camps housing hundreds of workers overwhelm local communities.

"The (environmental impact study) concludes that no project-induced residual effects on community well-being will be significant," she said. "We disagree. In our opinion, the induced effects will be long-term."

Sharpe-Staples said her group wants the proponents to post bonds to ensure they do their best to mitigate the social effects of the construction.

"We want some sort of accountability," she said after the hearing.

Inuvik Mayor Peter Clarkson also wanted the energy companies to pick up the tab for the disturbance they would create. Inuvik will be a major staging area for construction and will have a large gas processing facility built nearby. Thousands of heavy truckloads will take their toll on local roads, and workers from the camps are likely to be frequent users of city facilities, said Clarkson.

"Community residents expect the Mackenzie Gas Project to pay for direct and indirect costs of this project," he told the panel. Clarkson later said it's too soon to estimate what those costs might be. Negotiations are ongoing and Clarkson described the proponents' response as "cautious."

The extent of future development was the focus of earlier questions. Stephen Hazell of the Sierra Club wanted to know why only three so-called "anchor fields" are under consideration in the review. He pointed out that Imperial's own documents acknowledge that those fields will only fill the pipeline for a few years and that new fields will have to be developed.

Ottenbreit responded that only the anchor fields have signed agreements to ship gas through the pipeline.

Paul Falvo of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund asked whether the project would be going ahead if there were only three fields being developed.

Ottenbreit said there's no guarantee the project will go ahead at all. "We need to assess the impacts of any conditions arising from the regulatory review process," he said.

Outside the hearing, Hazell said the amount of development likely to come as a result of the pipeline will be far greater than what Imperial has described. In addition to the anchor fields, there are 13 others in the area, some owned by Imperial. "They know the gas is there," he said. "It's not like there's any uncertainty about it. "If we had all 16 fields being included in the project, I think northerners would have a better sense of what's coming at them." (Source Canadaeast.com)