Aboriginal communities along a proposed northern pipeline route are meeting to go over key terms reached with the project's industry backers, the latest in a string of signals that a stalled $7.7-billion Arctic pipeline is ready to move ahead.

Several communities that make up the Sahtu First Nations are gathering today to go over the broadstrokes of an agreement arrived at with Imperial Oil Ltd., the lead partner in the pipeline project.

After scant movement for months, rumblings from industry and aboriginal leaders last week suggested tentative agreements are at hand.

Word of the community meetings is the first concrete sign of progress since work on the line was halted in April.

After three decades of delay, however, aboriginal groups are remaining cautious until they get a chance to read the fine print of any agreement.

"Until you see the package, you won't know whether it's a big step forward or not," said Frank Andrew, Grand Chief of the Tulita Dene, a band of the Sahtu First Nations.

Access and benefits agreements, needed before a line can pass through aboriginal lands, were among the sticking points cited by Imperial when it stopped developing the project in the spring.

Time, however, is no longer on anyone's side.

The National Energy Board has asked Imperial to let it know by this Friday whether it wishes to proceed with hearings in northern communities. If those hearings, which require 60 days notice to take place, aren't held in January, the project's timeline could slip by another year.

Complications around building a pipeline in the far north means construction can only happen in a short window during the winter.

Such snags have already caused projections for first gas from the line to be knocked back by two years to 2011.

The Sahtu are one of four main Aboriginal groups with which industry must reach an agreement.

For its part, Imperial is downplaying the Nov. 18 deadline, but has made a firm commitment to let the regulator know its plans by the end of the month.

"For whatever reason, the 18th has taken on the aura of being . . . a drop-dead date, and that's likely not the case," Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser said.

"Our commitment to the NEB is to get back to them in November . . . that very much remains our intent."

Rex Tillerson, president of ExxonMobil Corp., Imperial's parent, told reporters in Calgary last week that he believes the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline will be built.

Proponents of the line were given more cause for optimism a few days later when Nellie Cournoyea, a former premier of the Northwest Territories, said negotiations between her Aboriginal group and industry were almost settled.
Despite having more wiggle room than is suggested by a Nov. 18 deadline, a definitive decision on the line is almost certain to land within the next few weeks.

"This is a pivotal week," said Bob Reid, president of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, a project partner that's not involved in community negotiations.

"If the date is missed by a few days, I don't think that would be an issue . . . (but) it can't be a months delay."

Paul Haavardsrud - Calgary Herald