The Pembina Institute released today Environment and Energy in the North, a series of eight documents designed to aid northerners to effectively take part in managing the environmental impacts associated with oil and gas development, and ensure that government and industry are using the best practices available.
"Northerners prompted us to do this project," says Chris Severson-Baker, Director of Energy Watch with the Pembina Institute, "They told us that they wanted non-industry and non-government information about environmental issues and ideas about how to manage those issues before potential large-scale oil and gas development starts."
The Pembina Institute been invited on several occasions to speak in the NWT and the Yukon about the organization's 17 years of experience working on oil and gas issues in Alberta and established a working relationships with northern groups and individuals.
Renewed interest in developing the oil and gas resources of Northern Canada presents the peoples of the North with economic opportunities as well as significant social and environmental risks. Northerners are actively gathering information on how to manage these risks including talking to groups like the Pembina Institute from parts of Canada that have already experienced intensive oil and gas development.
Six of the documents are "primers" focused on a different phase of oil and gas development. There are four parts to each of these primers:
- A basic description of the activities of that phase
- The potential environmental and human health risks of that phase
- The best practices available to reduce those risks
- Opportunities for citizens to get involved in deciding how developers carry out the activity.
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Seismic Exploration |
industry activities to create a picture or map of the geology below the Earth’s surface to find oil and gas reserves. |
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Land Disposition |
the actions companies need to take to get the rights to explore for and produce oil and gas reserves. |
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Exploration/Production Drilling |
the activities companies perform to first locate oil and gas, then to find out the size and usability of an oil and gas reservoir, and finally to reach the oil and gas using intensive production drilling. |
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Well Site Operation |
industry practices to remove oil and gas from underground reservoirs and transport them to the surface. |
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Oil and Gas Processing |
actions companies take to process oil and gas to prepare it for sale. |
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Pipeline Construction/Operation |
industry activity to set up pipelines that carry oil and gas from the place it comes out of the ground to the places where consumers will use it. |
Each package also includes a "guide" on citizens' rights around oil and gas development projects and a listing of additional resources and contacts.
Free copies are being mailed to numerous organizations in the Yukon and NWT. The reports will also be available on CD and on the Pembina Institute Web site at www.pembina.org.
For more information contact: Chris Severson- Baker (403) 269-3344 ext. 101