The Web That Is My Own

Do you know why I'm a fool? When the Canadian government announced it was setting up a Joint Review Panel to evaluate the "potential impacts" of the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, I was GLAD.

Yes, GLAD.

Maybe I'm more of an idiot than a fool.

That was 2004. I saw the pipeline, a huge infrastructure project with environmental, social, cultural, economic, and energy implications, as something that should be taken seriously. I thought its review should be coordinated by a single body to reduce the duplication that could easily result from having several agencies do the review.

The budget was about $6 million. Seven panelists would do the review with the help of staff. They were to deliver a final report within a year.

This, I thought, was our opportunity to show that northerners could do it. We could take on a serious project and deliver on time and on budget. The result would be truly northern and reflect the priorities of our own people.

I was such a fool.

Hearings started in 2006 and went on for two years. The panel wanted everyone to have a say. EVERYONE. If you wanted to intervene, you could do that. If you wanted to appear before them, you just had to show up at one of the many, many community meetings the panel held all over the NWT. It didn't matter if you had nothing to say. It didn't matter if you were essentially duplicating someone else's presentation. You've got thousands of pages of documents? Bring them on in!

The panelists questioned the people who appeared before them. They wanted to make sure all of the presenters were serious. They asked questions like "Where will the workers buy chips?" and "Suppose this project goes through. And suppose that there's another project after this one. And then, hypothetically, something bad could happen with the second project. And on that day, you might be out of town. How would your agency respond to the crisis?"

I'm telling you, it was a gong show.

Then we found out they were WAY over budget. Not just your standard northern "over budget", either. The last I heard, they had run up over $18 million in bills. We knew they were way past their deadline, but we didn't know just how little they cared about meeting any of the original timelines. They told us they'd publish their report in 2009. Then they adjusted this to December 31, 2009. They ended up releasing it on December 30, 2009. I am sure this is the JRP's idea of "getting the report out early".

In the meantime, the estimated cost of the Mackenzie Gas Project soared to $16 billion from its original $4 billion.