Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), active reclamation has been placed on hold until additional studies carried out under the active land use permit are complete. The cleanup of the Pointed Mountain gas facility is authorized under land use permit MV2007X0007. The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, hereinafter referred to as the board, issued this permit in June 2007. This permit replaces land use permit MV2002X0017 which required the submission of an abandonment and reclamation plan. This plan was submitted to the board and approved for implementation. Correspondence from the board still refers to this plan as being valid.
The land lease documents defer the decommissioning and reclamation of the Pointed Mountain gas plant to the abandonment and reclamation plan submitted to and approved by the board.
In response to (b), annual groundwater monitoring of the BP Canada Pointed Mountain gas field, near Fort Liard, Northwest Territories was undertaken in August 2006 and September 2007.
A supplemental phase II environmental site assessment, ESA, of the BP Canada Pointed Mountain gas field was conducted in September 2007. The purpose of this supplemental ESA was to further assess soil, groundwater and surface water quality at the plant site, A-1 through A-4 well sites, B-1 and B-2 well sites, and the airstrip.
The 2008 progress report states that annual surface and ground water sampling has shown no significant changes in hydrocarbon, metals, or salinity. BP plans to sample surface and ground water every two years.
The 2008 supplemental environmental site assessment conclusions state that “risk to potential human and ecological receptors remains low” and “unlikely to reach the nearest water body located 2.5 kilometers southeast of the pond for many years. There is no increase in the potential impact to surface water sources” .
The 2009 progress report states that 21 groundwater monitoring wells and 8 surface water locations were sampled. There were slight variations in hydrocarbon, metals and salinity but no significant changes.
In response to (c), there have been no extensions requested or given. Land use permit MV2002X0017 was issued in 2002 for five years and expired in 2007. BP Amoco never asked for an extension of permit MV2002X0017 but rather applied for MV2007X0007 which has been scoped for decommissioning and reclamation of Pointed Mountain gas plant and associated sites. This is an extensive cleanup project in a sensitive area that cannot and should not be expected to be completed in a matter of a few years.
In response to (d), all information related to the filings of the land use permit and the reclamation plan are available on the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board website. The impacted first nation, the Acho Dene Koe of Fort Liard, provided a letter of support submitted along with the land use permit application, dated January 10, 2007.
In response to (e), it is up to the proponent to properly assess the environmental impacts that have resulted from the authorized operations and facilities. Only when the impacts are understood can an informed abandonment and reclamation plan be executed.
The operation and all activities associated with decommissioning and reclamation of the Pointed Mountain gas plant are under an active authorization and will remain so until June 2012. Should additional time be required for execution of the reclamation activities, it will be incumbent upon the company to ensure that an authorization is in place from the applicable land and water board to carry out the activities. ¬
Reclamation of brownfield sites can take years as evidenced by work being conducted by the Contaminants and Remediation Directorate, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, on abandoned mine sites within the Northwest Territories region.
