Managing Emissions

Our stakeholders told us we need to improve our mitigation strategies for air emissions. The primary source of emissions from the proposed Parsons Lake development would be well testing and the operation of the gas processing plant. Mitigation measures include:

• Performing well testing by using process equipment, once installed, instead of flaring.
• Using low nitrogen oxide burners on fired equipment.
• Installing low-emission technology on gas turbines.

To improve safety, reduce our emissions and decrease our fuel costs, we will perform a leak detection and repair study shortly after the facility is operational, and on an ongoing basis thereafter. This will help identify any potential leaks of gases from valves and fittings. We will examine our emissions management plan further when the Parsons Lake Project moves out of the regulatory process and closer to project execution.

A Changing Climate

Climate change has the potential to seriously affect communities and the way of life in Canada’s North. It could potentially impact coastal housing, animal migratory patterns, harvesting locations, and biodiversity. In community consultations, harvesters told us they have seen changes in the wildlife of the Mackenzie Delta, including sightings of species not typical of the western Canadian Arctic, such as salmon and additional bird species.

Understanding climate change and its potential impact is an important part of our research efforts. We support and participate in projects and committees that do research relevant to climate change, including:

Learn more on Air Quality

• Canada-wide
• Western Canada Gas
• Oil Sands

• Participating in joint research to measure current ice thickness in the Arctic and assessing how electromagnetic measurement technology can be used to measure multi-year ice thickness without drilling boreholes in the ice.
• Sitting on the Research Management Committee of ArcticNet in Canada. ArcticNet is working to assess the impact of climate change in the Canadian Arctic. We help to guide and plan the execution of this project through our seat on the Management Committee. ArcticNet is funded by the federal government and includes hundreds of researchers from universities across Canada.