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The Mackenzie Gas Project

Mackenzie River Valley ©Fritz Mueller

Related Links Latest News: Governments Reject a Sustainable Approach for the Mackenzie Gas Project 3 Reasons to Reject the Mackenzie Gas Project

Most Canadians have never seen it. But it is perhaps our nation’s most treasured natural feature...the Mackenzie River.

The entire Mackenzie Valley is now threatened by Canada’s biggest natural gas pipeline project ever. The Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP), likely to cost at least CDN $16 billion, includes three major natural gas production fields north of Inuvik and two underground natural gas pipelines (the longest is 1,220 km) to carry the gas south along the Mackenzie Valley to northern Alberta. Other pipelines would be built connecting other gas fields to the main pipelines.

If it proceeds, this mega-project will trigger the transformation of the Mackenzie Valley from largely intact wilderness to industrial landscape. The environmental impact would be massive.

• It will fragment habitat for bears, caribou and wolves.
  
  
• It will harm fish and fish habitat by increasing sediment deposition into the rivers and streams of the valley from constructing pipeline crossings.
  
  
• It will permanently damage important breeding or staging areas for millions of geese, tundra swans and other migratory birds.
  
  
• It will cause forests to be clear cut and heavy machinery deployed to construct the infrastructure and the new underground pipelines which would tunnel under or cross 580 rivers and streams along the way.
  
  
• It will trigger a rush of oil and gas development in the Mackenzie Valley, which would accelerate further damage to wildlife and ecosystems.
  
  
• It will increase greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels by heavy equipment and from the cutting of boreal forests, destruction of wetlands, and melting of permafrost.
  
  
• It will impose development on First Nations lands before the Dehcho and Sahtu peoples complete their own land use plans.
  
  
• It will accelerate climate change in the Mackenzie Valley. Even now, thawing permafrost is collapsing roads and buildings. Warmer, drier summers are causing the worst forest fires ever. Infestations of southern insects, especially the spruce budworm, are likely. Depletion of Arctic sea ice will likely push polar bears, walrus and some seals into extinction within 50 years.
  

Oil companies hope to use the gas to fuel expansion of tar sands development at Fort McMurray, Alberta. Tar sands projects are projected to be the largest single addition to Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, producing 70 megatonnes by 2010, or 12 percent of Canada's Kyoto target for that year.

During the Joint Review Panel's hearings in 2007, Nature Canada argued the environmental assessment was inadequate in measuring the full impact of the project on the lands, water and wildlife of this unique environment. The Joint Review Panel released its findings on December 30, 2009, over two years after the hearings ended. The panel concluded that if all of its 176 recommendations were fully implemented, the project would likely be beneficial and have no significant adverse impacts. Read Nature Canada's response to the Joint Review Panel's report.

The National Energy Board has scheduled hearings in April 2010 to hear final arguments for and against the project before making decisions (possibly by September 2010) on whether to approve the Project, and if so under what conditions. Nature Canada has argued publicly that the National Energy Board should obtain firm, funded commitments from the federal and territorial governments to implement the recommendations of the Joint Review Panel of the Mackenzie Gas Project before approving it.

Nature Canada formally endorses the Mackenzie WILD Declaration opposing the Mackenzie Gas Project. The Mackenzie WILD Declaration, also endorsed by such groups as Sierra Club of Canada, Ecology North, Council of Canadians, the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance and the Wilderness Society calls on Canadian governments to: support Canada's commitments to protect the global atmosphere, protect the biodiversity and ecology of the Mackenzie Valley, ensure sustainable, healthy Mackenzie Valley communities and respect the rights of Mackenzie Valley Indigenous Peoples. Read the Declaration.

Resources
	Follow-up Letter to the National Energy Board, Dec. 2, 2010: Final Response by Government to JRP Report
	Letter to the National Energy Board, Nov. 22, 2010: Government Response to JRP Report
	JRP letter to Government, Oct. 4: JRP reaffirms its conclusion on the adverse impacts of the Project
	News Release, Oct, 2010: Review Panel Rejects Governments' Attempt to Weaken Its Recommendations
	JRP letter to Government, Sept. 3, 2010: JRP rejects confidential “consult to modify” process.
	News Release, Feb 11, 2010: Nature Canada Submits Comments on Mackenzie Gas Project Report
	Nature Canada Response: Panel Releases Long-Anticipated Mackenzie Gas Project Report
	News Release, Dec 31, 2009: Review Panel Releases Mackenzie Gas Project Report
	News Release, Nov. 27, 2007: MGP Should Not Proceed, Nature Canada Tells Review Panel
	Nature Canada Report: Birds, Bird Habitat and the Mackenzie Gas Project: Closing Remarks
	News Release, Nov 15, 2006: MGP Threatens Federally Protected Sanctuary
	Nature Canada Report: Impact of MGP on Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary (November 2006)
	Nature Canada Report: Birds, Bird Habitat and the Mackenzie Gas Project: Important Bird Areas and Migratory Birds as Valued Components (September 2006)
	News Release, Jan 17, 2006: Kendall Island Sanctuary, Other Critical Bird Habitat at Risk
	News Release, June 23, 2005: Study Ignores Effects on Critical Bird Habitat , says Nature Canada Report
	Nature Canada Report: Review of MGP Environmental Assessment (June 2005)
	Mackenzie Valley Map
	Read the MackenzieWILD Declaration