Our Land Footprint

Stakeholders told us they are concerned about our potential air emissions and their impact on wildlife, land and water. They also asked us to focus on improving methods and technologies to mitigate the potential occurrence of spills and releases.

Our plan for Parsons Lake development includes measures to ensure we minimize our footprint, such as:

• Moving equipment closer together and decreasing the size of our north drill pad, allowing us to reduce the size of the pad from the original design of 20 hectares to 18 hectares.
• Minimizing the land area required for flare stacks at the north pad by placing the two stacks closer together.
• Reducing the size of our south pad from our original design of four hectares to three hectares by constructing fewer buildings.
• Sharing a right-of-way with a proposed Mackenzie Gas Project gathering line, reducing the potential impact of the development’s flow line.

Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment

In 2008, we made a commitment to continue to support regional environmental assessment principles developed through the Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment working group. This working group includes representatives from industry, including ConocoPhillips Canada, the Inuvialuit Game Council, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and federal and territorial government departments. The Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment would set clearer expectations for assessing cumulative effects, provide a regional environmental baseline from which environmental assessments can be initiated and identify key regional issues and challenges.

We supported the development of the Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment in 2008 and 2009, by:

• Providing written input to the initial proposal, later versions and project planning.
• Participating in the multi-stakeholder steering committee throughout the process.
• Championing the assessment within the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and directly with the federal government.

The Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment proposal was submitted to the federal government, but funding was not approved. Regardless of whether it is implemented in full or in part, our work to support the Assessment improved our understanding of the concerns of the community and regulators and helped us establish priorities for planning future developments.

Drilling Sumps

In 2004, we completed a voluntary testing program to assess 39 drilling mud waste sumps (disposal areas) from exploration wellsites we drilled in the 1960s and 1970s. Results from the testing program are publicly available through the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Drilling Mud Sumps Information Database.

We will perform an assessment and risk prioritization of the 39 sites over the next two years that will involve a review of the Drilling Waste Sump Inventory summaries completed in 2004 and 2005. We planned to have this work completed by 2009 but were unable to do so. Sites that have a higher potential for environmental issues will be monitored and then addressed.

Our plans for the Parsons Lake Project do not include any sumps, thanks to an innovation pioneered by ConocoPhillips staff in our Alaskan operations. We proposed to the National Energy Board that drilling mud and cuttings be ground up and injected into deep, isolated rock formations, eliminating the need for sumps.

The Siku C-55 Historic Wellsite

In 2008, federal government inspectors visiting the Siku C-55 abandoned wellsite on the northwest corner of the Parsons Lake lease noted the concrete over the well casing looked to be in poor condition. The National Energy Board asked us to investigate the well to ensure it was still in an appropriate abandoned condition. We completed a site inspection in 2009. The well was abandoned properly but did require repair of the surface concrete. There were no downhole concerns with the well abandonment. The concrete will be replaced with a new welded metal plate. We have National Energy Board approval for the work plan and are finalizing the land use permits with the Inuvialuit Land Administration and the Environmental Impact Screening Committee.

Reducing our Effects on Wildlife

To mitigate potential impacts of our proposed Parsons Lake Project on wildlife, we developed draft wildlife protection plans early in the planning. Some measures included are the direct result of the input of Inuvialuit and Gwich’in organizations and wildlife resource managers working with the government or co-management (combined government and Aboriginal) groups. Our efforts to date have focused on barren-ground caribou, grizzly bear and wolverine. Future draft plans will consider other species considered to be at-risk.

Barren-ground Caribou

Barren-ground caribou have been identified as a sensitive species by the Government of the Northwest Territories. As in previous years, in both 2008 and 2009, we contributed $45,000 to the Territories’ Barren-ground Caribou Collaring Program. This ongoing program provides information on the location and timing of movements of the herds. In addition to providing the government with information it needs, the data will help us predict when caribou will be entering the Parsons Lake wintering area. This will allow us to modify scheduled activities, where practical, to minimize disturbance to the herds. This investment reflects our 2008 sustainable development commitment to continue supporting research in key areas of concern.

The information provided by the collaring program, coupled with traditional knowledge, local community consultation and ConocoPhillips’ 25-plus years of experience in Alaska, shaped our draft Barren-ground Caribou Protection Plan for the Parsons Lake Field Development. Measures from the draft plan include:

• Elevating the flow line to 2.2 metres above ground, allowing caribou to walk under the line, even in deep snow.
• Where practical, building all-weather roads at least 100 metres away from the above ground flow line to decrease barriers to caribou movement that might occur from multiple linear disturbances like pipelines or roads.
• When practical, scheduling activities to minimize disturbance to the lead caribou during migration so the herd moves safely through the area.
• Using a wildlife monitor to survey development sites to assess caribou presence and determine if there is a need for additional mitigation.
• When driving, all personnel and contractors will give the right-of-way to caribou.

Grizzly Bear and Wolverine

Mitigating our potential impact on grizzly bear and wolverine populations is important not only for the protection of these species, but also for the protection of the people who will work on our project. Our draft Grizzly Bear and Wolverine Protection Plan for the Parsons Lake Field Development focuses on training staff how to avoid and, if necessary, manage encounters with these species. Measures to make our sites less attractive to bears and wolverines and to maintain a minimum distance from bear denning sites will also decrease the risk of an encounter.

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ConocoPhillips Canada continues to co-sponsor the territorial government’s Inuvik Region Electric Bear Fence program, which is aimed at decreasing potential interaction between humans and wildlife. We contributed $5,000 in both 2008 and 2009, for a total of $20,000 since 2006. In return for cleaning up camp areas, local residents can receive an electric bear fence. This fence helps to protect them and their camp and reduces the number of bears habituated to feeding at camps. This program will also benefit our proposed future operations, which might overlap with the habitat of some of the same bears. Thirty-two fences have been installed to date and participants reported a decrease in damage to their camps caused by bears.