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First Nations will watch gas pipeline closely

CANADA: Palin's advisers don't expect conflict over rights of way.

By WESLEY LOY
wloy@adn.com

Published: July 14th, 2008
Last Modified: July 14th, 2008 at 12:24 AM

JUNEAU -- The proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline is very long -- 1,715 miles, to be exact.

And although we call it the Alaska gas line, more than half of it, or 965 miles, would be laid in Canada.

State legislators considering whether to award a license and $500 million in planning dollars to TransCanada Corp. on Sunday shifted their focus away from all the Alaska aspects of the pipeline to look at the Canadian challenges involved.

One message came through loud and clear -- don't ignore the Canadians, especially the aboriginal groups known as First Nations, who have a constitutional right to be consulted by the Canadian government on how a big project like the gas line might affect land they own or use for hunting and fishing.

Look at a map of TransCanada's pipeline route -- it runs from the Alaska border through the Yukon and British Columbia to Alberta -- and you'll see a patchwork of First Nations lands.

TransCanada executives say more than 40 First Nations groups are expected to be "active stakeholders" in the pipeline project.

Failure to adequately address their concerns could be "fatal to a project," according to a Canadian law firm advising Gov. Sarah Palin, who is recommending lawmakers award the license to TransCanada.

But lawyers for the Palin administration as well as the Legislature said Sunday they believe TransCanada can navigate the First Nations issues, seeing no "showstoppers" that might block construction of the pipeline.

The lawyers, however, warned that it could take several years -- longer than TransCanada has said -- to gain full clearance for the pipeline, with plenty of potential for lawsuits and for the project to be used as "leverage" in unresolved aboriginal land claims cases.

Keith Bergner, a Vancouver lawyer advising the Legislature, said none of TransCanada's pipeline would cross land owned outright by a First Nations group. Rather, most of the pipe would cross publicly owned land, just as the 750-mile Alaska section would.

But two First Nations groups in the Yukon -- the White River First Nation near the Alaska border and the Kaska Nation in the eastern Yukon -- have unresolved land claims. British Columbia might also have land claims cases.

During hearings since early June on the gas line, state lawmakers have heard from executives with TransCanada and oil companies BP and Conoco Phillips, which are partnering on a competing gas pipeline from the North Slope gas fields down the Alaska Highway to the existing gas distribution network in Alberta.

TransCanada and the BP-Conoco partnership both have begun the process of talking with First Nations representatives about concerns or demands they might have.

Like the lawyers advising the state, company executives said Sunday they're confident the Alaska pipeline can be built across Canada without endless First Nations snags.

"You have to talk to a whole bunch of people. You have to reach agreements with a whole bunch of groups," said David Van Tuyl, gas commercialization manager for BP Alaska.

BP has plenty of experience working with First Nations in Canada and with Canadian pipeline regulators, Van Tuyl said.

Calgary-based TransCanada's point man on the Alaska gas line, Tony Palmer, asserts his company is in a better position than the oil companies to lay a pipeline through First Nations country.

For one thing, the Canadian government 25 years ago awarded a TransCanada subsidiary an easement through the Yukon, and that right of way is still good, Palmer said.

TransCanada also says it already has worked out other land-use details and has a long record of building pipelines across Canada. Palmer said the company can satisfy First Nations concerns on the Alaska gas line.

"We believe it can be done, and we believe we have an advantage over any other project," he said.

Lawyers for the Palin administration agree TransCanada might have a bit of a head start, but note the company "does not have any secure rights" across British Columbia and Alberta.

State Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, helped organize Sunday's hearing on the Canadian pipeline.

"It's a new subject, and I felt strongly that we had to have a hearing on it," he said.

French said he heard nothing to persuade him it's a bad idea to license a pipeline project into Canada.

Legislators are expected to continue hearings today and vote on the TransCanada license by Aug. 2.

Find Wesley Loy online at adn.com/contact/wloy or call him in Juneau at 586-1531.