Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I’d like to follow up on my statement and ask him some questions with regards to fracking and the requirements that will be required of companies that are doing fracking.
Recently, the National Energy Board put in place new requirements for companies, but I’d like to, first off, ask the Minister… I mentioned in my statement, these requirements don’t force the companies to reveal the components of the fracking fluid, but I’d like to first know from the Minister whether or not the requirements from the NEB and/or any of the requirements that this government is thinking about implementing, whether they would include a monitoring or an oversight of the fracking in the Sahtu. Something similar to the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency that exists for the Ekati Diamond Mine. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intention is to work with the NEB and with the Sahtu Land and Water Board to look at the new requirements, and review and assess the various proposals and projects as they come forward. We, as well, after April 1st, are in the process collectively of contemplating and planning for what type of regulatory regime we want to have. We want to have a northern-based, northern-driven, northern-controlled regulatory process. We want to make use of the technical skills of the National Energy Board, and we want to be clear, as we go forward, that we have northern control of the process. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for the information. I didn’t hear an answer to my question, so I guess I’ll have to phrase it a little differently.
I’m pleased to hear that the government is going to be working with various organizations. One of the things that is in place is the Sahtu Land Use Plan and I’m not exactly sure how the government will use the Sahtu Land Use Plan and consider that in terms of fracking development. So there’s that and there’s also the question about whether or not there will be an independent environmental monitoring agency such as we have for Ekati. Will there be that for Sahtu? Thank you.
We’re currently in the exploration stage. As we move forward and if the Sahtu oil play proves out and becomes a producing field, those discussions, on an ongoing basis, will be there. In the meantime, there will be monitoring throughout the approved projects, the requirements that they have to adhere to in terms of the monitoring, the disclosure, the information that they have to share, the issue of fracking fluids. All those are going to be addressed in a way that fits industry best standards. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. I’m pleased we’re going to try to achieve industry best standards. He’s mentioned several times the word “monitoring” and we’re going to be monitoring, and that’s part of my concern, is the scale of development, the pace of development> I need to know from the Minister how we’re going to determine that, how we’re going to slow things down if things are going too quickly, speed it up if maybe we think they’re not going fast enough, which is unlikely.
How are we going to measure, how are we going to monitor? It goes to my question about an independent oversight agency. Thank you.
One of the functions we are taking over from the federal government that has some funding attached to it is a Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program. We have that venue and process that we will be looking at, as a government, in terms of providing the monitoring that’s necessary. We’ll also work with the land and water boards. At this point, there are no plans for an independent monitoring body at this juncture. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that response. I would urge the government to consider, very seriously, establishing an independent oversight body.
My last question has to do with the fact that we’ve talked a lot about the Bakken formation, the people that visited there and so on, and it sounds as though we are thinking about putting in place the same sort of system that exists in the Bakken. However, the Bakken doesn’t have permafrost and doesn’t have melting permafrost. So what are we thinking about doing differently, to accommodate fracking in a permafrost zone? Thank you.
We are different than the Bakken in many ways. The intensity of development, the speed and pace of development are different; we have a different regulatory regime that requires environmental work to be done prior to any project proceeding. We have a lot of monitoring done in the area of groundwater monitoring and mapping in the area of where they plan to work, wildlife baseline information needs to be taken. We are going to make sure, through the best practices, that we allow and account for what the topography and geography is going to look like, including permafrost. The big issue for us is the different regulatory regime, and the pace and intensity in the Northwest Territories is something we have to control and has to fit in with the broader planning for ourselves as a government and the people of the Sahtu with their land use plan. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
