This is all good, but I think it precludes a rail line ever going in for that part of the country. No win-win for transportation and energy. IMO Canada should have its own option with its own infrastructure coming from the Mackenzie Delta south through the Yukon. Instead we will have a baron northern coast easy for the encroachment of the much more populous and developed western coast of northern Alaska... our sovereignty will quickly diminish as a result. Canada doesn't have the leadership to see it through, so the Americans will monopolize the resource and we fall in danger of becoming mere custodians of a foreign pipeline....

Well said Eagle one. I am against allowing the Yanks to ruin more of our province with a pipeline that serves only American interests, what's in it for Canada? They say that there will be benefits, what, the odd job during construction? I suppose there would be a short term gain for the hospitality industry, which would be welcome I'm sure, but long term benefit to Canadians? can't see it. We would end up with the yankees having what amounts to tenure where the pipeline lies. I hope the aboriginal community fights this proposal long and hard.
metalman.

Notice the LNG option.

I would like to see the financials of that option without the leg through Canada. Send the gas from source to Anchorage, liquify it, and ship it to wherever the market may wish it to arrive.

IMO Canada should not be making any further deals with the Americans until the pulpmill issue is solved. Every time our government kisses their butts the Canadian people lose in one way or the other. Keep their pipe line off of our land like the NWT have done. They are the smart ones! We need to stand up for ourselves already and not leave it all up to our natives peoples. We ALL need to do our part! When will the Canadian government stand behind the Canadian people and stop the bullying from the Americans. They are NEVER going to play fair!!

Yes, I agree. If possible, we should use the pipeline deal to leverage a fair settlement to the pulp mill subsidy in the States.

Construction jobs are not the only jobs it will create. There will have to be compressor stations along the way and people to look after them. Maybe we should implement buy Canada for at least the part of the line that is in Canada. Do not sell the right of way but just lease it to the companys invovled. If they think that the need for the gas is there in the States than the pipeline will happen no matter the objections. Better to take advantage rather than moan and groan.

A question to eagleone: why do you say that "this pipeline precludes a railway ever going in this area"?

I agree with "gus" about the LNG option with one exception in that Bush is no longer in power. The new leader is more likely to put US energy security above the profits of energy company friends.

I believe there is a US federal law which pertains to Alaskan natural gas being protected for domestic consumption.?
If anyone knows whether this is actually true, it would be nice to know.

There would be a much greater value to the energy companies in having a saleable international commodity than a domestic only market. I believe this is what will determine whether the gas is liquified at Valdez and then shipped anywhere..such as China, Japan or anywhere else.

The other theory I have which might push to have the pipeline built to the lower 48 is that the window of opportunity might be closing as more gas is found and developed in the lower 48 states and in Canada.

They need the pipeline more than we do and I would suggest that it would be foolish for us to allow this to run through Canadian soil unless there are SERIOUS and LASTING benefits for us. And by serious and lasting, I don't mean the construction and maintenance jobs that would come with it.

Who cares whether there is a pipeline or not. This is just a bunch of crap. We have pipelines all over North America. In the sixties it was the Trans Canada Pipeline. Nobody even knows it exists today.

A Railway from Alaska to connect with the BC Rail/CN at Ft Nelson will be a long time coming. The fact of the matter is, is that the Railway from Ft Nelson to Ft St John will probably be closed due to lack of business. In addition the Railway from 100 Mile House to North Vancouver will also be closed. **No business** Railways have downsized all over North America in the last 20 years. Thousands upon thousands of miles of track have been torn up. You would have to have one hell of a lot of business before anyone would build a Railway from Alaska south to Ft Nelson.

In any event if it ever happens no one on these posts will be alive to see it.

For Northern sovereignty reasons it is important to have control over the flow of development and growth in the area of the North. The early leader benefits from scale, as scale comes on line, and thus becomes the established route for future related development.

Palopu is right that the 100-Mile to North Vancouver will soon be closed... that was the liberal plan all along, so they could improve their road to Whistler... communities like 100-mile will become the new Fort Nelson at the end of the line to nowhere. IMO no railway to the Yukon far north and Alaska would go through Fort Nelson anyway... anyone that has driven over the North Rockey mountains there would know you can't scale that crossing for a train very easily. IMO the old line North of Fort St James would make the most sense for a rail line to Alaska, because it would run right up through mine country with easily navigable terrain.

I think a pipeline precludes any rail line ever going in because you lose the synergies a joint construction project would have... and you lose the potential volume something like a CN Rail pipeline could use to subsidize the growth of general freight. Once the route is established development and infrastructure improvements will be made along the newly established routes and bi-pass the alternatives.

Canada in order to have a say in the projects that benefit Canadians would be wise I think to have the Mackenzie Delta as the base of Northern oil and gas operations. One day when the Arctic is used as the worlds main shipping transit for East-West shipping between Asia and Europe it will be the Mackenzie Delta that will be a potential major hub of industrial activity intercepting the most efficient shipping routes for North American bound goods, as well as being the service port of call for a significant oil and gas industry. The potential for economic growth in the Mackenzie Delta over the next 20-years is greater than everywhere else in Canada combined IMO. It could be a modern day gold rush if government policy was driven with a strategic initiative to maximize benefits to Canadians. Monopolizing a pipeline route through Canada while not building a rail way and allowing all industrial benefit of Northern oil and gas development to be captive by Alaska disadvantages Canada and our Northern territories in a big way.

Time Will Tell

Palopu, national sovereignty has a price too... we see it all the time in expenditures for military bases and wages and equipment in other parts of the country... why not here where the taxes to pay for it all comes from... we don't want tanks and bullets (in the tens of billions), but a railway would do the job just fine. With a vision we can make a free enterprise economy out of it like our ancestors did and provide benefits in work and tax dollars and national security to everyone in the country.

IMO Canada has no leadership.

"The potential for economic growth in the Mackenzie Delta over the next 20-years is greater than everywhere else in Canada combined IMO."

Still do not understand why the Canadians are all sturng out along the US border, do you?

Try - climate, roximity to market, cost of hinterland development, too much land for the population base ......

Location of resources has never been a problem. Go find them, extract them, ship them - water, road, rail, air, dedicated pipeline ... whatever is ones fancy and makes sense costwise.

The end of the line is not typically the most populated area. The populated areas are generally at the hubs.