Native band fears oil project’s impacts

Lack of buffer zones worries First Nation

An oilsands project proposed by Athabasca Oil Corp. and PetroChina will “seriously impact” traditional lands, says the Fort McKay First Nation.

In an emailed response Monday to a request for comment made last week, the band said it filed an objection to the Dover project because the proponents have not agreed to provide a “buffer” to protect adjacent wilderness near Namur and Gardiner Lakes.

The filing prompted the Energy Resources Conservation Board to schedule an April 23 hearing in Fort McMurray into the application to build a fivephase, 250,000-barrel-per-day facility.

The in situ project would use steam-assisted gravity drainage technology and be centred on a lease 95 kilometres northwest of Fort McMurray.

“Over the years, Fort McKay First Nation has supported sustainable oilsands and economic development for our community, Alberta and Canadians,” said the statement provided by band spokesman Dayle Hyde.

“However, the proposed Dover project serves to seriously impact the last remaining traditional reserve land on the west side of the Athabasca River.”

Athabasca had hoped to win approval of the project without a hearing. Alberta regulatory approval will trigger a put/call option through which PetroChina can buy the 40 per cent it doesn’t own for $1.3 billion.

Last January, PetroChina became the first Chinese national oil company to own 100 per cent of an Alberta oilsands project when Athabasca sold its 40 per cent interest in the proposed 150,000-bpd, $6.5-billion MacKay River SAGD project for $680 million.

The deal was confirmed just days after that project was approved without going through an ERCB hearing. PetroChina had paid $1.9 billion for 60 per cent stakes in MacKay and Dover projects in 2009.

“Fort McKay’s reserves adjacent to Dover’s planned project provide a refuge for the community on its own lands that are relatively untouched by development and the only significant intact area that can support Fort McKay’s culture, traditional way of life, and treaty rights,” the band stated.

Jerry Demchuk, manager of regulatory affairs for Athabasca and Dover Operating Corp., the joint venture company, said last week he didn’t know why the band intervened but expected to learn more by March 5, the deadline for written submissions to the ERCB.

Athabasca had expected to win provincial approvals for the project by year-end 2012, about two years after applying, but it has more recently forecast approval in the second quarter of this year.

Demchuk said the ERCB has 90 days after the hearing to make its ruling.