Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

News Release

Federal Funding Available For Participation in theEnvironmental Assessment of the Mackenzie Gas Project

OTTAWA, June 28, 2007 - The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) and the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board announced today the availability of $160,000 to assist groups and individuals to participate to the Joint Review Panel Hearings of the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project.

Groups and individuals, including previous funding recipients, may apply for the new funding. Recipients must use the funds to participate in the remaining public hearings and to prepare submissions on the environmental assessment to the Joint Review Panel. This new funding will only cover expenses incurred after the signing of a new or amended contribution agreement.

Previous funding recipients intending to apply for this funding must contact the Manager of the Participant Funding Program below, prior to submitting an application. Funding applications received by the Agency by July 30, 2007 will be considered.

A funding review committee, independent of the review panel, will consider all applications and advise the President of the Agency as to the appropriate distribution of the available funds to successful applicants according to the eligibility criteria set out in the Guidelines for Participant Funding for the Joint Review Panel Process for the Mackenzie Gas Project.

Information on the funding program, including the Guidelines for Participant Funding for the Joint Review Panel Process for the Mackenzie Gas Project, the application form and the contribution agreement, is available on the Agency's Web site and on the Web site of the Northern gas Project Secretariat at www.ngps.nt.ca.

The proposed MGP includes natural gas development in the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories, gathering lines, processing facilities and pipeline facilities to transport gas south through the Mackenzie Valley to northern Alberta. The facilities would connect to the Nova Gas Transmission system and the associated commercial natural gas market, known as the NOVA Inventory Transfer (or NIT), near the NWT/Alberta border. The pipeline would be approximately 1,400 kilometers in length.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency administers the federal environmental assessment process, which identifies the environmental effects of proposed projects and measures to address those effects, in support of sustainable development.

For more information on the Participant Funding Program, contact:

Suzanne Osborne
Participant Funding Program
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
Tel.: 613-957-0254 (collect calls are accepted)
Fax: 613-948-9172
suzanne.osborne@ceaa-acee.gc.ca

Media may contact:

Nicholas Girard
Senior Communications Advisor
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
Tel.: 613-957-0958
nicholas.girard@ceaa-acee.gc.ca