Review panel asks for extra time to consider $20B Fort McMurray oilsands mine

A federal panel conducting an environmental assessment of a $20.6-billion oilsands mine is asking for an eight-month extension to complete the review.

The joint federal and provincial panel reviewing TeckResources'Frontier oilsandsproject asked bothgovernments for the extension Wednesday.

"The Frontier Oil SandsMine Project application is complex," the panel's chair Alex Bolton wrote in a letter posted to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency website. "If approved and constructed, the project would have a disturbance footprint of 292 km."

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The panel said Teckmade last-minute changes to the project description and the total amount of records ballooned to 30,000 pages.

"The fact that these changes came so late in the pre-panel timeline resulted in the federal reviewers having less time to thoroughly review the new project design and request additional information from Teck in advance of the panel's appointment," Bolton wrote.

The chair also said the panelhas received an additional mandate from the federal government to include the project's potential effect on the Wood Buffalo National Park and the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

Boltonsaid he expects the panel to submit itsfinal report by mid-2018.

Extensions granted on case-by-case basis

Additionally, the panel still needs to facilitate requests for additional information and public hearings, including a special hearing that was requested in Fort Chipewyan, according to Bolton.

If the request for extra time is granted by theCanadian EnvironmentalAssessmentAgency, it will be the second extension the panel has received. The panel was granted a three-month extension in May 2016 for the Fort McMurraywildfire.

Lucille Jamault, spokesperson for theCanadian EnvironmentalAssessmentAgency, could not say how long it would take theCEAA and the Alberta Energy Regulator to consider panel's the extension request.

Jamault said the panel still has 23 more weeks of work left. Shesaid project extensions are granted ona case-by-case basis.

Theproposed mine, if approved, would be 110 kilometres north of FortMcMurray.The company says Frontier would create approximately 7,000temporary construction jobs and 2,500 permanent jobs during operations.

Teckintends to produce260,000 barrels of bitumen per day from Frontier, over the mine'sexpected 40-year life span.

If approved, the Frontier mine is expected to begin operatingin 2026.

Concerned First Nations

First Nations groups closeto the mine site have said they support extending the review.

Melody Lepine, director ofgovernment and industryrelations for theMikisewCree,said Teckhasn't answered critical questions about how the mine will affect the Wood Buffalo National Park and its bison heard.

"This project is so critical," Lepine said. "It's right there. It is literally 30 kilometres south of the Wood Buffalo National Park border. It's within the watershed flowing into the delta. It is a very important project."

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nationhas also voiced similar concerns in a letter posted to the assessment agency's website.

TeckRessources spokesperson Chad Pederson said in an email statement Wednesday that the company"will be closely watching for the response of the federal government to this request."

Pederson said Teckis prepared to respond to any questions from the panel.

"We believe that the Frontier Project is ready to advance to the hearing," Pederson said. "And believe that our regulatory submission represents a comprehensive and detailed social and environmental assessment of the project."

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