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Whether an environmental assessment of Imperial Oil’s Norman Wells facility goes ahead will become clearer later this month, the regulator in charge says.
Over the past year, the oil giant had applied to two regulators – the Canada Energy Regulator and the Sahtu Land and Water Board – for permits to keep running its century-old Norman Wells oil field, which is estimated to have five to 10 years’ operating life left.
In September, the Sahtu Secretariat referred those applications for environmental assessment, a more detailed process led by a third regulator, the Mackenzie Valley Review Board.
While Imperial Oil says it was trying to renew existing permits and little to nothing has changed at the oil field, the Sahtu Secretariat says the broader circumstances in which the facility operates – environmentally, economically and politically – have evolved and warrant fresh scrutiny.
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The review board initially launched an assessment but was then asked by Imperial to reverse its decision.
In a brief update, the review board said it will issue a decision on Imperial’s request – and an accompanying rationale – by November 22.
If an environmental assessment goes ahead, it will likely stretch well into next year.
The Canada Energy Regulator has given Imperial permission to keep operating the Norman Wells facility while that assessment happens, avoiding the prospect of closure by the end of this calendar year.
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Imperial has said it needs a similar extension from the Sahtu Land and Water Board to keep operating past next spring.
The company has also said it will consider legal action if an assessment goes ahead, while multiple Indigenous governments have said the Sahtu Secretariat possesses a treaty right that supersedes federal legislation to order an assessment.
A separate environmental assessment has begun of an Imperial project to replace some pipelines in the Mackenzie River.
