Environmental bills before US Congress could boost Mackenzie pipeline

Environmental bills before US Congress could boost Mackenzie pipeline
The Canadian Press
... for legislators in Washington, said Northwest Territories Industry
Minister Bob McLeod, in the US capital for meetings on the $16-billion
proposal. ...
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[excerpt]

"...Low-carbon fuel initiatives being considered in the U.S. Congress have
become a new way to keep the much-delayed project on the radar for
legislators in Washington, said Northwest Territories Industry Minister
Bob McLeod, in the U.S. capital for meetings on the $16-billion proposal.

"We've been promoting Arctic natural gas as an environmentally friendly
low-carbon fuel that could replace other higher-carbon content fuels,"
McLeod said Wednesday. "When this low-carbon economy initiative goes
ahead, there'll be a spike in the demand for natural gas as a result."

Some environmental organizations in Canada testified at regulatory
hearings in 2006 that Arctic gas shouldn't be used because it would just
bring more fossil fuels on stream.

But with natural gas producing fewer carbon dioxide emissions than other
fuels such as oil or coal, McLeod said American officials are telling him
the United States will soon need all it can get.

"There appears to be a shift to a low-carbon economy, which will
re-emphasize the importance of natural gas," he said.

Still, McLeod acknowledged the Mackenzie project is increasingly
challenged by enormous deposits of natural gas in American shale beds,
which have become profitable to produce...."