Environmental impacts
By Sheri Gagnon

The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline will start near Inuvik and extend 1,220 kilometres south along the delta and join with pipelines in Northern Alberta. The planned route crosses more than 500 waterways and runs through heavily forested areas. In November 2004, the advocates of the Mackenzie Gas Project released an Environmental Impact Statement to address the potential problems the construction of the pipeline might cause. Although the report offers solutions to problems such as land erosion, groundwater flow, permafrost, wildlife loss, and protected areas, many critics found gaps in the research. The Pembina Institute noted that the EIS only accounted for one third of the gas fields in the project. Pembina, along with other organizations such as the Sierra Club of Canada and Ecology North, are pushing for the current Joint Review Panel to consider the impact of the pipeline would have on global warming. Their new quest is to have a "green pipeline" that would conform to the Kyoto standards by using renewable, clean energy.

	Petr Cizek, renowned land use planner, prepared a report for the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee in June 2007 to illustrate the effect that resource extraction and development has within the Northwest Territories. Using Google Earth's technology, he illustrates the impact of the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline on the communities in the delta.
COURTESY: THE CANADIAN ARCTIC RESOURCES COMMITTEE AND PETR CIZEK.
Download PDF: Mapping cumulative impacts of resource extraction and development throughout the NWT Google Earth mapping tools: http://www.carc.org/dev_blindfold.php

Examples of potential problems from the pipeline's construction:

• Altering the land's surface could lead to permafrost melt, or conversely, lead to areas more prone to freezing. As a result the ground may experience sagging or sinking and leave increased potential for flooding. Land alteration would also result in a loss of vegetation, potentially eliminating some species.
  
  
• The construction of the pipeline will interrupt water flow, not just lakes and rivers, but groundwater as well. Alteration of lakes and rivers could change the quality of the water as well as upset fish habitats. The disruption of groundwater flow can have an impact on the source of freshwater for waterways, but also be a trigger for erosion.
  
  
• Protected wildlife areas, such as the Kendall Island Migration Bird Sanctuary, will be affected because the pipeline will run through part of it. For both protected and unprotected areas, the project may disrupt animal habitats. Construction noise may deter the migration patterns of some species and the pipeline itself may act as a physical barrier above ground. Increased animal death is also a cause for concern, as curious animals could be seen as problematic to pipeline workers and therefore killed.
  
  
• The construction and use of the pipeline will raise greenhouse gas emissions in Northwest Territories by an estimated 44 percent. In addition, every year gas from the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline is burned, 25 million tons of carbon dioxide will be emitted into the atmosphere.

links:
CBC.CA The Mackenzie Valley pipeline FAQs