14-02-06 Environmental hearings for the $ 7-bn Mackenzie Valley pipeline began with warnings that the safety of the pipeline and the natural gas fields that feed it is threatened by climate change, already damaging northern roads and airstrips.
Government scientists and environmental groups said Imperial Oil hasn't accounted for permafrost melting out from under the pipeline. Nor has it considered the effect of higher sea levels and longer storm seasons along the low-lying gas fields.

"It's really the frozen ground that creates the structure that protects the pipeline," said Stephen Hazell, conservation director of the Sierra Club of Canada.
"You could get shearing of the pipeline. Whole slopes could subside as the permafrost melts." Hazell spoke at the opening day of environmental and social hearings on the effects of the proposed pipeline.

Over the coming year, a seven-member panel will hear evidence in 27 communities from Tuktoyaktuk to Calgary on how the massive project -- and the industrialization that will come in its wake -- is likely to affect delicate Arctic ecosystems and the isolated, largely aboriginal communities that depend on them.
The panel will present its findings and recommendations to the National Energy Board, which is holding parallel hearings on the engineering and economic aspects of the project.

With a slight tang of chlorine in the air from the building's swimming pool and the constant murmur of translators working in Gwich'In and Inuvialuktun, about 200 people from high-priced lawyers and cabinet ministers to aboriginal elders gathered in a community recreation centre for the opening day.
Hazell pointed out that two of the project's main gas fields, which lie right along the Beaufort Sea, are only a metre and a half above sea level and are already prone to spring flooding. As well, a four-year study released last year by 300 scientists from eight countries estimated the sea level would rise by nearly a metre by the end of the century. Imperial estimates the land is likely to sink about half a metre as the gas is drained.

That's too close for comfort, said Hazell -- especially since scientists anticipate that less sea ice will lead to more storms of increased severity. Finally, Hazell said Imperial hasn't adequately explained how it would build a pipeline able to stay intact despite losing the permafrost it sits on.
"The jury's out right now on whether or not these permafrost issues can be successfully mitigated," he said. "It's definitely the case that the proponents have not yet done the engineering work and studies... along the length of the pipeline."

Two federal government departments echoed Hazell's concerns.
"The Mackenzie Basin has experienced some of the greatest warming in the circumpolar North in the past 50 years," said Jim Vollmarshausen of Environment Canada. "Climate variability and change poses a serious threat to the viability and integrity of the project."
Natural Resources Canada expressed similar reservations tothe panel.
"The proponent has not considered that the effects of climate change can be important when combined with the project effects," says the department's submission, which recommends Imperial rethink its analysis.

Imperial has taken climate change into account, said company spokesman Pius Rolheiser.
"We've done considerable studies and we've filed a lot of documentation," he said.
However, he acknowledged Imperial may have more work to do.
"We may need to submit more information. We are proud of the work we've done that forms the application, but are we finished yet? Probably not."

The 3 tcf of gas from the known fields being developed by pipeline proponents is enough to heat all Canada's gas-fired homes for six years. Approval is being sought for five developments: gas production facilities in three fields owned by Imperial, Conoco and Shell; gathering pipelines; a processing facility near Inuvik; a liquids pipeline from Inuvik to Norman Wells, N.W.T.; and the gas line itself.
Northern infrastructure is already deteriorating as the N.W.T.'s climate warms. In Yellowknife, an insulating liner had to be installed 4 metres under a 100-metre section of runway with a history of sagging. Transport Canada says other 42 airstrips are likely to be affected.

Portions of the road from Yellowknife to Fort Providence have been abandoned and rebuilt over more stable permafrost. The season for ice bridges and ice roads has shrunk from an average 75 days before 1996 to about 47 days.
And a study funded by Natural Resources Canada suggests six N.W.T. communities, mostly in the Mackenzie Delta, are highly vulnerable to infrastructure damage from melting permafrost. Another 18 communities are moderately vulnerable.