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The federal government has signed off on a renewed three-year water licence designed to keep Imperial Oil’s Norman Wells facility operating through a series of environmental assessments.
The triggering of multiple assessments last fall paused a separate process through which Imperial was trying to renew a licence due to expire in March this year.
Without a water licence, the facility in Norman Wells – which is a major local employer and contributor to tax revenue, as well as a source of environmental concern – cannot operate.
The Sahtu Land and Water Board initially granted an emergency 60-day renewal to last until early May. On Friday last week, the federal minister responsible agreed to a three-year renewal beyond that.
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Ministerial sign-off is the final step. The conditions of the licence are unchanged from the previous one.
The land and water board recommended a three-year term over objections from Fort Good Hope’s K’ahsho Got’ine Committee, which had suggested a shorter period – long enough to safely shut down the Norman Wells facility and no longer.
Other parties said they accepted the three-year proposal, which is intended to provide enough time for the environmental assessments to be carried out.
In its reasons for decision, the board said it “cannot conclude that a shorter term for the renewal, followed by [a] shut-in period with a new care and maintenance licence, serves the public interest better than maintaining the operating licence for the full three years.”
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Imperial had argued that if its licence were allowed to expire without a renewal in place, it would be forced to carry out a tricky and potentially dangerous winter shutdown of its Norman Wells operations, shutting off local revenue and risking staff safety.
While important for the short-term continued operation of the Norman Wells facility, renewal of the water licence is a smaller regulatory proceeding than the environmental assessments.
Those are likely to take many months and offer more comprehensive scrutiny of Imperial’s operations.
One assessment will look at the facility’s operations as a whole. Another examines repair work set to take place under the Mackenzie River. A third, assessing proposed closure plans for the site in the next five to 10 years, is expected in the coming months.
