Environment Minister Jim Prentice says he is "optimistic" that work on the controversial Mackenzie Gas Project, which proposes building a pipeline to deliver northern natural gas to Canadian and U.S. markets, will begin soon after numerous delays for environmental and community assessments.
The project was first proposed in 2001 by a consortium of oil producers that includes Imperial Oil, ExxonMobil Corp., Shell Canada and ConocoPhillips.
The 1,220-kilometre pipeline would ship natural gas through the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories from northern offshore gas fields, but the project has been bogged down by community and environmental consultations.
Speaking Sunday on CTV's Question Period, Prentice said the project should move forward quickly after an environmental assessment is completed at the end of this year.
"I would say that we have never been closer," Prentice said. "The environmental process will come to a completion at the end of this year and we're working with the proponents to make sure that we have a fiscal framework that will allow the project to proceed. I continue to be optimistic."
Prentice added that the project is important because it delivers clean gas, which "fits in with our environmental agenda."
He also indicated that a much talked-about Alaska pipeline is much further behind, with environmental, regulatory and other consultations yet to be done.
In January, Prentice announced federal financial support for the project, a change in previous government policy that had long withheld cash or tax breaks for the pipeline's proponents.
Prentice's announcement did not include specific figures. However, the cost of the pipeline has ballooned to more than $16 billion.
Cleaner energy sources are expected to move closer to the top of the political agenda in both the U.S. and Canada now that President Barack Obama has taken office.
While the economy is his top priority, Obama has announced his intention to reduce carbon emissions and invest heavily in green technologies.
The Conservatives have advocated emission intensity caps, which could allow carbon emissions to rise, and are not investing as heavily in alternative energies.
However, Prentice repeated an assertion he made Saturday that American and Canadian environmental policies share common principles.
"If you look at what President Obama has said in terms of the principles that he espouses on climate change and also the targets that he's spoken about, compare those to the targets and the principles that our prime minister has put forward, we're actually very close," Prentice said. "In fact, the Canadian targets are slightly more aggressive than those that have been put forward by the president."
Obama has said he wants to reduce emissions from coal, which accounts for about 70 per cent of U.S. power generation.
Prentice said that the Canadian government in turn is committed to pressuring oil sands stakeholders to clean up their operations.
"Everyone wants to see the oil sands developed in an environmentally responsible way and they will continue to be an important part of the supply-demand balance," Prentice said. "That doesn't mean though that hydro isn't important, that renewables aren't extremely important."
With files from The Canadian Press
