Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I’d like to follow up on my statement and ask him some questions with regards to fracking and the requirements that will be required of companies that are doing fracking.

Recently, the National Energy Board put in place new requirements for companies, but I’d like to, first off, ask the Minister… I mentioned in my statement, these requirements don’t force the companies to reveal the components of the fracking fluid, but I’d like to first know from the Minister whether or not the requirements from the NEB and/or any of the requirements that this government is thinking about implementing, whether they would include a monitoring or an oversight of the fracking in the Sahtu. Something similar to the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency that exists for the Ekati Diamond Mine. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intention is to work with the NEB and with the Sahtu Land and Water Board to look at the new requirements, and review and assess the various proposals and projects as they come forward. We, as well, after April 1st , are in the

process collectively of contemplating and planning for what type of regulatory regime we want to have. We want to have a northern-based, northern-driven, northern-controlled regulatory process. We want to make use of the technical skills of the National Energy Board, and we want to be clear, as we go forward, that we have northern control of the process. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for the information. I didn’t hear an answer to my question, so I guess I’ll have to phrase it a little differently.

I’m pleased to hear that the government is going to be working with various organizations. One of the things that is in place is the Sahtu Land Use Plan and I’m not exactly sure how the government will use the Sahtu Land Use Plan and consider that in terms of fracking development. So there’s that and there’s also the question about whether or not there will be an independent environmental monitoring agency such as we have for Ekati. Will there be that for Sahtu? Thank you.

We’re currently in the exploration stage. As we move forward and if the Sahtu oil play proves out and becomes a producing field, those discussions, on an ongoing basis, will be there. In the meantime, there will be monitoring throughout the approved projects, the requirements that they have to adhere to in terms of the monitoring, the disclosure, the information that they have to share, the issue of fracking fluids. All those are going to be addressed in a way that fits industry best standards. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I’m pleased we’re going to try to achieve industry best standards. He’s mentioned several times the word “monitoring” and we’re going to be monitoring, and

that’s part of my concern, is the scale of development, the pace of development> I need to know from the Minister how we’re going to determine that, how we’re going to slow things down if things are going too quickly, speed it up if maybe we think they’re not going fast enough, which is unlikely.

How are we going to measure, how are we going to monitor? It goes to my question about an independent oversight agency. Thank you.

One of the functions we are taking over from the federal government that has some funding attached to it is a Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program. We have that venue and process that we will be looking at, as a government, in terms of providing the monitoring that’s necessary. We’ll also work with the land and water boards. At this point, there are no plans for an independent monitoring body at this juncture. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that response. I would urge the government to consider, very seriously, establishing an independent oversight body.

My last question has to do with the fact that we’ve talked a lot about the Bakken formation, the people that visited there and so on, and it sounds as though we are thinking about putting in place the same sort of system that exists in the Bakken. However, the Bakken doesn’t have permafrost and doesn’t have melting permafrost. So what are we thinking about doing differently, to accommodate fracking in a permafrost zone? Thank you.

We are different than the Bakken in many ways. The intensity of development, the speed and pace of development are different; we have a different regulatory regime that requires environmental work to be done prior to any project proceeding. We have a lot of monitoring done in the area of groundwater monitoring and mapping in the area of where they plan to work, wildlife baseline information needs to be taken. We are going to make sure, through the best practices, that we allow and account for what the topography and geography is going to look like, including permafrost. The big issue for us is the different regulatory regime, and the pace and intensity in the Northwest Territories is something we have to control and has to fit in with the broader planning for ourselves as a government and the people of the Sahtu with their land use plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A point of clarification, for a commercial customer using 2,000 kilowatts in a five-kilowatt demand in Iqaluit and Yellowknife, in Yellowknife the total bill would be $476.53 and in Iqaluit it would be $953.73. Yellowknife to Iqaluit is lower by $477.20. At the residential level, there is a significant subsidy provided to residential power users in Iqaluit versus Yellowknife. Our rates are higher than Whitehorse, but clearly when you look at Whitehorse, they have the majority of their population living very, very close to the city. They have road access to all their communities except one. They have a hydro plant right in the middle of the city, so they have different challenges than we do with 33 communities in 1.3 million square kilometres that we have to manage and provide services to.

So we’ve done a number of things to cushion the rates. We’ve put in almost $34 million to cushion the rate increases, because there had been no rate increases for five years. We’ve spent or we revised our rate structure to, in fact, provide greater relief to small communities where rates were as high as $2 a kilowatt hour. We’ve standardized the rates in the thermal zone and hydro zone.

So we’ve done a number of things and we’re working hard on additional things like liquid natural gas in Inuvik, the use of solar, we are going to work on combined heat and power as we proceed with biomass. So we have some very aggressive plans to bring down the cost of energy in the Northwest Territories.

The only thing the Minister didn’t do there is thank me for giving him such a platform or soapbox to provide a Minister’s statement to in defence.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister used, as a distracting technique, to start talking about commercial rates. I keep talking about residential rates for the working family. As I said, and the Minister did pick up that

1,000 kilowatts is more expensive in Yellowknife than it is in Iqaluit. It is certainly way more expensive, twice as expensive in Yellowknife versus Whitehorse.

What immediate relief can the Minister of the NWT Power Corp do? We engineer the community power rates; let’s do something for half our population. Here is your opportunity. I look forward to the Minister’s answer on that one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do appreciate the opportunity to discuss these important matters in the House with the Member. It’s always an interesting discussion. I have laid out in my previous answer a significant amount of work that we’re doing on the issue of energy and providing a lower cost of affordable energy, not only to residents but to businesses. One of the things we are focusing on, of course, is conservation. We have any number of rebate programs to assist people to convert to energy-efficient appliances, biomass, all the things that will help them save money as they go forward and cut their use of power so that it will save them money.

I can’t be the only one noticing the Minister continues to not answer the question, which is: What immediate response can the Minister, through the department, through that government, do to help the immediate need that everyday Northerners need, which is relief on their power bills? This government wanted to help the cost of living for Northerners and this is something we can do. I will continue to launch question after question on this issue until he does something. What can he do? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One second here. Sorry, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Hawkins, enough is enough. When you are told to ask the question, ask the question. Don’t drag it on. It’s not Members’ statement time. Mr. Miltenberger, now answer the question for Mr. Hawkins. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will choose my response carefully. In this House where there is sometimes political theatre, the demand for instant, quick fixes, silver bullets may play well on the airwaves, but the Member knows in his heart of hearts – he’s been in this Assembly for a considerable amount of time – that everything takes planning. It takes planning, it takes design, it takes resources, it takes consultation and we’ve been working on these improvements since the last Assembly and we are going to continue to do that. If the Member has a silver bullet that he wants to share with us that is not just putting unaffordable subsidies more than we’re already paying, I would be very happy to have that discussion with him, because we are very open-minded and looking for that type of constructive input. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, we need an answer to this question. Why are engineered power rates okay if you’re outside of Yellowknife but not in Yellowknife? It’s a question of fairness.

Everything about energy provision is engineered. It has to be engineered the proper way; it has to be engineered for efficiency for economy and for practicality. What we’ve done with the rate restructuring was to, in fact, bring a greater clarity, streamlining to the rate systems. Instead of 33 rate zones, we have two. We’ve pegged the rate of residential power across the North to the Yellowknife rate. Yellowknife has some challenges, but we have to keep in mind the whole Northwest Territories and these improvements have benefited all Northerners. Is there still work to do? Absolutely, which is why we’re talking about a five to seven hundred million dollar investment in hooking up the transmission lines to improve our ability to manage and provide electrical energy to our citizens. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I read a statement on the K’atlodeeche First Nation Reserve, so my question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the House on the current status of the KFN negotiations with Canada and the GNWT? Mahsi.