In a Letter Decision issued on June 2, 2016, the
National Energy Board (NEB) approved a six-year extension of the
"sunset clause" for the conditional approval of the
Mackenzie Gas Project. This would give the project proponents until
the end of 2022 to begin construction on the project. As noted in
the NEB's Press Release, the extension will not come
into effect until it is approved by the Federal Government.
The Mackenzie Gas Project is a proposal to develop three natural
gas fields in and near the Mackenzie Delta, and to transport the
natural gas and natural gas liquids to southern markets through
around 1800 km of pipelines that would connect to the existing NOVA
Gas Transmission system. There is a very long history (starting in
the 1970s) of proposals to build a pipeline to transport natural
gas south through the Mackenzie River valley. The application to
the NEB seeking approval of the Mackenzie Gas Project was filed in
October 2004. In December 2010, the NEB
