Prince George, B.C.- The Enbridge Northern Gateway  Pipeline project is taking a different approach in presenting the project to communities and First Nations. The twin pipeline’s proposed route  would travel from the Edmonton area to Kitimat,   south of Bear Lake, through Burns Lake  and west to Kitimat.

Speaking on the Meisner program this morning on CFISFM, Roger Harris, President of Enbridge Northern Gateway Aboriginal and Community Relations, says this is the most complex pipeline project ever undertaken in North America “There are three mountain ranges, and 50 First Nations. We need to give people a reason to support the project. The traditional thing is that there is lots of construction jobs at the start, then nothing when the project is complete, nothing.   So I am looking for the much longer term.” One of those incentives with a longer term is the offering to First Nations, of a 10% equity in the project, which would provide long term financial support to those communities.

Harris says this project, which was estimated 3 years ago to be worth $4.5 billion dollars in cost,   would employ in excess of 4,000 people in the construction phase.   He doesn’t want to see a series of camps where workers head into communities on the weekend to spend their money “If that’s what we see, then we have failed.”   He says he would like to use the sub contracting opportunities to develop services in communities where those services don’t already exist. “I see this as a catalyst for the growth of other businesses, and that’s the legacy of a project like this.”

There will be an open house on the project in Prince George from 4 – 8 today at the Coast Inn of the North. Harris says while it’s important for people to come out and find out what the project is all about, its just as important for the company to have the opportunity to learn from those who attend, just what some of the concerns are, “Right now, the planned route would see the pipeline very close to a recreation park in Burns Lake, so we will have to work around that, so an open house is an opportunity for us to learn about what changes need to be made.”