Mackenzie pipeline review panel adjusts hearing schedule
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 | 9:20 AM CT

CBC News North

The panel reviewing the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline project has revised its schedule in response to the landmark ruling in which the Dene Tha' First Nation won the right to delay the project.

In November Federal Court Justice Michael Phelan ruled that the federal government had failed to consult northern Alberta's Dene Tha' about the proposed 1,200-kilometre pipeline that would stretch from Alberta to the Beaufort Sea.

The court ordered the panel not to hold hearings that touch on Dene Tha' interests until Ottawa figures out how to consult with them.

The panel says it won't consider evidence that involves the connecting facilities for the pipeline, which are in Dene Tha' traditional territory in northwestern Alberta.

A hearing on education, training and employment originally scheduled for this month will now take place in Yellowknife in February and an Edmonton hearing has also been rescheduled for February.

The panel hasn't decided what to do with hearings on cumulative effects, sustainability and recommendations, but a spokesperson says the panel isn't planning to add any more time to its hearing schedule.

The hearings are supposed to wrap up in April.

The federal government has already announced it will appeal the Federal Court's ruling.