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The Sahtu Land and Water Board is “considering” an emergency renewal of a licence that would let Imperial Oil keep running its Norman Wells facility through a forthcoming environmental assessment.
Imperial argued earlier this month that without an extension to the water licence it must possess to legally operate the facility – or a new licence – it would have to shut down operations when the existing licence expires in March.
The situation arises because of an environmental assessment recently requested by the Sahtu Secretariat.
The start of that assessment places a pause on the process by which Imperial had begun seeking to have its water licence renewed.
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The Sahtu Land and Water Board, which issues such licences, says it can’t simply extend a water licence under existing rules and so must consider using an “emergency measures” section of legislation to find a solution.
In a fresh letter posted to a public registry, the board says it is “considering initiating a process, in the public interest, to renew the licence for a period of three years on an emergency basis” with no changes to its conditions.
The board said it had selected three years as it anticipates up to 16 months for the environmental assessment itself, five months for ministerial decisions to be made and extra time for regulatory work beyond that. A three-year licence would keep the facility running throughout.
However, the board added that it will only issue an emergency licence if it is “convinced that it is necessary to avoid an emergency situation and is in the public interest,” suggesting it had not been conclusively persuaded by Imperial’s letter setting out what the company said were dire consequences for the Sahtu if a shutdown goes ahead before March.
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Instead, the board has asked parties with an interest in proceedings to provide input on what they think about a winter shut-in of the Norman Wells facility, whether a renewal of the licence is in the public interest, whether three years is appropriate if so, and whether “an expedited proceeding would be acceptable under the circumstances.”
Submissions are due by December 20.
The emergency water licence issue is the latest in a series of regulatory and economic dramas affecting the people of the Sahtu, residents of Norman Wells and Imperial Oil.
In the past few months alone, fuel prices have spiked, costs of supplies have gone up, Imperial has tried to shut down the environmental assessment of its facility, and a separate environmental assessment of some repair work at the facility has begun.
