Environmental Protection Plan for the Proposed
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION PLAN FOR THE PROPOSED COLVILLE LAKE WINTER DRILLING AND EVALUATION PROGRAM PARA et al NOGHA P-27, 66°40’ LATn1JDE, 125°45’ LONGITUDE PARA et al NOGHA C-49, 66°40’ LATITUDE, 125°45’ LONGITUDE PARA et al NOGHA M-17, 66°40’ LATrTuDE, 125°45’ LONGITUDE For Submission to the Sahtu Land and Water Board Prepared By: Paramount Resources Ltd. 4700 Bankers Hall West 888 - 3 Street S.W. Calgary, AB T2P 5C5 and Northern EnviroSearch Ltd. 330, 703 - 6 Avenue S.W. Calgary, AB T2P 0T9 Principal Investigators: :i iifthy Chidlaw, B.A. Geog., C.Tech. $44i7 ‘ t. p —. ,_fl7;,.. -s,n’- a+tn tr.:igec,r.-:4,,.n. 9t;-,l.3fl-,, . October 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .1 2 METHODOLOGY 1 3 COMMUNICATION 4 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 2 4.1 PROJECT SCOPE 3 4.2 ACCESS AND LEASE CONSTRUCTION 3 4.2.1 P-27Access and Lease 4 4.2.2 C-49 Access and Lease 5 4.2.3 M-l7Access and Lease 7 4.3 CAMPS 8 4.3.1 Construction Camp 8 4.3.2 Drilling Camp 8 4.4 DRILLING, COMPLETION & EVALUATION 9 4.5 CLEANUP/RECLAMATION 10 4.6 DEMOBILIZATION 10 4.7 FUEL STORAGE 10 5 PUBLIC CONSULTATION, PROJECT SCOPE AND CUMULATIVE EFFECTS 11 5.1 PARAMOUNT’S PUBLIC CONSULTATION 11 5.2 TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE STUDY 12 5.2.1 Colville Lake Traditional Environmental Knowledge Workshop 13 5.2.2 Fort Good Hope Traditional Environmental Knowledge Workshop 14 5.3 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS/PREVIOUS ACTIVITY 15 6 BIOPHYSICAL COMPONENT 16 6.1 PHYSICAL — CHEMICAL ENVIRONMENT 16 6.2 BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT 18 6.3 INTERACTING ENVIRONMENT 21 6.3.1 Colville Lake Trail 22 6.3.2 The Underground River 22 6.3.3 LacdesBois 22 7 CONCLUSION 24 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 ENVIRONMENTAL PRE-SITE ASSESSMENT INFORMATION FORMS APPENDIX 2 SITE PHOTOGRAPHS I TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE WORKSHOP AND PUBLIC CONSULTATION PHOTOGRAPHS APPENDIX 3 SOIL SAMPLING PROGRAM LABORATORY ANALYSES REPORTS APPENDIX 4 FIRE HISTORY, ECOLOGICAL DATA MAPS (FISH AND WILDLIFE), CULTURAL AND INFRASTRUCTURE MAP, RECREATIONAL DATA MAP APPENDIX 5 WATER SOURCE SAMPLING PROGRAM LABORATORY ANALYSES REPORTS APPENDIX 6 POTENTIAL WATER SOURCE LEVEL ALTERATION CALCULATIONS APPENDIX 7 TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE WORKSHOP NOTES, POSTINGS AND PERMISSION LETTERS APPENDIX 8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES INFORMATION 1 Introduction Paramount Resources Ltd. (“Paramount’) is planning to drill and evaluate from one to three exploratory wells located SSE of the community of Colville Lake and southeast of Lac Belot. The P-27 well is approximately 41km from Colville Lake and situated along an existing seismic line (AOOP-COL-12) which was cleared during Paramount’s AOOP COL seismic program in the 2000/200 1 winter season (refer to Welisites and Program Location Map, the Nogha-Colville Lake Composite Map and the Survey Plans in the Application). The C-49 well is located north of the P-27 weilsite along seismic line (AOOP-COL-05), which was cleared during the same program. The M-17 well is located approximately 400 metres east of P-27 along the same cleared line. In accordance with the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (“MVRMA”) and the requirements of the Sahtu Land and Water Board (“SLWB”); Northern EnviroSearch Ltd. (“NESL”) and Paramount examined the effects that this Project may have on the environment and the social, economic and cultural well-being of the nearby residents and communities. 2 Methodology This environmental protection plan (EPP) was initiated on September 18, 2001. It consisted of field assessments, research, traditional environmental knowledge workshops with community members in Colville Lake and Fort Good Hope, and discussions with: • Steve Deschene, Resource Management Officer ifi, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) • Colette Langlois, Sahtu Region Special Advisor, Projects (RWED) • Jamie Chambers, Sahtu Region Renewable Resources Officer II (RWED) • Jason Carrie, Sahtu Region Forest Management Technician (RWED) • Melonie Dyck, Sahtu Land Use Planning Board (SLUPB) • Richard Popko, Wildlife Technician, Resources, Wildlife & Economic Development (RWED) • Miki Promislow, Sahtu GIS Project • Arianna Zimmer, Cumulative Effects Biologist (RWED) • John Nagy, Biologist (RWED) • Lade Johanis, Site Office, Canadian Museum of Civilization Concerns associated with the project were discussed during site visits between September 25 - 30, 2001. The site visits included scouting the project area by helicopter, conducting environmental pre-site assessments at each location, obtaining soil samples for textural analysis and permeability testing and taking water samples from nearby water bodies to determine their potential for use as water sources. Details of the environmental pre-site assessments and sampling are discussed in Section 4 of this report. Traditional environmental knowledge workshops were held on September 18, 2001 in Colville Lake and in Fort Good Hope on September 19, 2001. Details of Paramount’s community consultations are provided in Section 5.1 of this report. 1 3 Communication Any communications with respect to this protection plan may be referred to: Shirley Maaskant Wayne Tomm, P.Eng. Regulatory and Community Affairs Senior Drilling & Completions Engineer Coordinator Paramount Resources Ltd. Paramount Resources Ltd. 4700, 888 - 3 Street S.W. 4700, 888 - 3 Street S.W. Calgary, AB Calgary, AB T2P 5C5 T2P 5C5 Phone: (403) 290-3626 Phone: (403) 290-3618 Fax: (403) 266-6032 Fax: (403) 262-9206 Cell: (403) 861-8473 Cell: (403) 860-5014 4 Project Description The Colville Lake drilling and evaluation program (Project) is being proposed by Paramount to assess the hydrocarbon potential in the project area located within a region bordered on the east by 125°45’, on the west by 126°00’, on the south by 66°30’, and on the north by 66°40’ as illustrated by the Wellsites and Program Location Map and the Nogha-Colville Lake Composite Map in the Application. The drilling project includes up to three well locations: 1. PARA et al NOGHA P-27 (66°40’ 125°45’) 2. PARA et al NOGHA C-49 (66°40’ 125°45’) 3. PARA et al NOGHA M-17 (66°40’ 125°45’) Paramount will be accessing the proposed drilling sites using winter roads and existing seismic lines, which will be frozen-in using a mobile sleigh construction camp. Movement of the drilling rig and supporting equipment will take place as soon as the winter road has been opened. Each well will take approximately 30 days to drill and the second and third wells may not be drilled immediately following the first depending upon the results of the first well drilled as well as weather/winter road conditions. Equipment will be demobilized to Norman Wells (and if possible on to Alberta) prior to the closure of the winter road. The purpose of this EPP is to identify, address and mitigate the environmental issues associated with the conduct of the drilling project within the above noted area. As part of the EPP, the access and welisite locations were scouted by helicopter on September 29, 2001. The scouting party consisted of: • Wilbert Kochon, Ayoni Keh Land Corporation representative and Colville Lake community member • Gabe Kochon, Fort Good Hope community member, local trapper and hunter • Joe Orlias, Fort Good Hope community member, local trapper and hunter • Bob Raduenz, Paramount construction foreman • Timothy Chidlaw, Environmental project coordinator, NESL 2 Timothy Chidlaw of NESL conducted environmental pre-site assessments and soil sampling programs at all three weilsites between the dates of September 25 and 29, 2001, the results of which are discussed in Section 4.2. Water samples were obtained from five nearby lakes for the purpose of determining potential water sources for the drilling and winter camps. The analytical results and sampling locations are discussed in Section 4.3. 4.1 Project Scope The Project consists of three possible locations, C-49, P-27 and M-17, located approximately 20 kilometres southeast of Lac Belot (see Welisites and Program Location and the Nogha-Colville Lake Composite Map in the Application). One well will be drilled and evaluated with the results determining the second location. Equipment will be trucked to the locations using the winter roads from Wrigley to Norman Wells, Norman Wells to Fort Good Hope, and Fort Good Hope north along the Colville Lake road to the access turn off to an existing access road cleared during Paramount’s Colville, NWT AOOP-COL Seismic Program in 2000/2001. Access using both the winter access road and the existing cleared route will be contingent upon winter freeze-up and the construction of ice roads capable of supporting the heavy equipment. The following timeline is anticipated once the winter road has been opened: Mobilize (Freezing-in Access) December 2001 First Well Construction December 28 - 31, 2001 Drilling, Completion & Evaluation January 1 - January 30, 2002 Cleanup/Reclamation January 31 - February 4, 2002 Second Well Construction December 31 - January 3, 2002 Drilling, Completion & Evaluation February 1 -. March 1, 2002 Cleanup/Reclamation March 1 - 6, 2002 Demobilize March 6 - 31, 2002 4.2 Access and Lease Construction Construction of the access road from the winter road between Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake to the welisite locations is expected to take approximately one week. The access route will utilize 115 kilometres of existing road that was cleared for use as a winter access for Paramount’s Colville, NWT AOOP-COL Seismic Program during 2000/200 1 (see Welisites and Program Location Map and the Nogha-Colville Lake Composite Map in the Application). Approximately 3 9200m of water 3Ikm) (8Om from nearby lakes, streams and tributaries of the Hare Indian River will be required to freeze-in the road. The water being obtained will be from numerous water bodies on route to the wellsite locations. As a result, impacts to any singular water body will be negligible and the water will return to the regional watershed during the spring melt.