A ‘Great Pipeline Race’ in Canada

Soaring energy prices and profits have revived plans for two massive pipelines — the biggest private construction projects in North America — to bring natural gas hundreds of miles south from the frozen Arctic Ocean, through vast untouched forests and under wild rivers, to the United States.

The plans would flood isolated areas of Alaska and Canada with thousands of construction workers, pump billions of dollars into poor native economies, and bring the roar of heavy cranes and bulldozers to pristine areas where it is now quiet enough to hear the hoots of snowy owls and the rustle of pine boughs.

..Natural gas prices are now at all-time highs, greatly enhancing the lure of profits. Every energy forecast shows a yawning gap between supply and the rising demand. More natives of the north now see economic opportunity in the pipelines, and their necessity is reluctantly being conceded by even environmental groups.

“The economics are right. Everyone needs this supply to come on line,” said John Duncan, a member of the Canadian Parliament and the Conservative Party’s expert on natural resources. “The real question is which is going to be built first.”

Washington Post