Book Description

This report deals with granular-resource-related work undertaken by the author for the Land and Water Management Directorate of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, in support of the environmental assessment and regulatory review of the Mackenzie Gas Project. The Mackenzie Gas Project is a joint proposal to develop natural gas in the Mackenzie Delta area and deliver it to markets in Canada and the United States. The project proponents are Shell Canada Limited, Conoco Phillips Canada (North) Limited, ExxonMobil, Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Limited and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. More specifically, the work involved an analysis of key issues concerning granular resource management that have been raised in the environmental review and regulatory approval processes of the Mackenzie Gas Project. The work is based entirely on information in the public registries for the Mackenzie Gas Project. The public registries for the Mackenzie Gas Project are the Joint Review Panel Public Registry and the National Energy Board Public Registry. The key issues were determined through examination of the completed registry spreadsheets and digital archive which make up the document inventory from previous work, as well as the Mackenzie Gas Project public registries. The key issues were then assessed which involved researching, analyzing, summarizing, and providing feedback on the key issues. The key issues in order of importance are the amount of granular material required for project/issues of supply and demand, granular material required for the three anchor fields, fill/imported fill for the pipeline trench, issues involving communities, and reclamation of borrow pits. Further analysis of these key issues gives a better indication of the Mackenzie Gas Projects impact on granular resources as well as identifies any need for further consideration of granular information during the regulatory approvals phase of the Mackenzie Gas Project. The analysis of these key issues indicates that some of the issues require further consideration during the regulatory approvals phase of the Mackenzie Gas Project. Regarding the issue of supply and demand, it is recommended that the proponent re-evaluate their supply estimates especially taking into consideration ground ice in borrow sources. It is also recommended that the proponent estimate or calculate some granular requirements for reasonably foreseeable developments and cumulative induced developments. Regarding the issue of granular material required for the three anchor fields, it is recommended that this issue undergo further analysis because of uncertainties of things like the proponents supply estimates and potential ground ice. Regarding the issue of fill/imported fill for the pipeline trench, it is being recommended that more work be done during the regulatory approvals phase due to a lack of substantial information regarding the issue of imported fill. Regarding the issue of issues involving communities it is recommended that the proponent continue working with the communities throughout all stages of the project on issues involving granular resources. Finally, regarding the issue of reclamation of borrow pits, there needs to be more information and more quality information on reclamation of borrow pits. Also, it is recommended that the proponent place more emphasis on reviewing material involving past rehabilitation of borrow sites -- ASTIS (online) bibliography.