Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation on the Submission of Chance Oil and Gas Eagle Plains Exploration Project Proposal to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board

Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board and the Executive Committee Screening Process

• Chapter 12 of the Yukon First Nations Final Agreements called for the establishment by federal legislation of an assessment process that would apply to all lands within Yukon: federal, territorial, First Nation and private which resulted in the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Act (YESAA).
• YESAA establishes the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (YESAB) as an independent, arms-length body responsible for carrying out assessments required under YESAA to protect the environment and the social, economic, and cultural well-being of First Nations and residents. 
• The YESAB Executive Committee assesses larger projects that come to it directly or are referred by a Designated Office. 
• The Executive Committee process (Figure 1) has a legislated timeline of up to 16 months and includes public comment and review periods of at least 60 days on the project proposal and on the Draft Screening Report, which are posted publicly to the YESAB registry. 
• The Executive Committee will consider comments received during their assessment of a Project and will ask for more information to support their assessment if required. 
• The Executive Committee will make a recommendation on whether a project should proceed, proceed with terms and conditions, not proceed, or be referred to a panel. 

Eagle Plain Exploration Project

• Chance Oil and Gas Limited (“COGL”) (at the time Northern Cross Ltd.) submitted its proposed Eagle Plains exploration project to the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Board (YESAB) in 2014.
• In 2016, YESAB Dawson Designated Office referred the proposal to the YESAB Executive Committee as it concluded that there was insufficient information to determine if the project will, or is likely to have, significant adverse sociocultural effects related to the access to and use of the Porcupine caribou herd. 
• In 2024, COGL submitted its revised Project Proposal to YESAB: 
• “The Project is situated in north-central Yukon along the Dempster Highway. With a proposal to conduct exploratory activities over 10 years “to confirm the quality, quantity and areal extent of hydrocarbons”, i.e. crude oil and/or natural gas. This includes a seismic program covering 1,500 square kilometers of 3D seismic and up to 2,000 square kilometers of 2D seismic and exploratory drilling of up to 30 wells over the 10-year project life. The drilling program will require winter road access. Seismic recording is proposed to occur during the summer months via helicopter support. Progressive reclamation and closure activities are planned.
• The Project includes a 75-person camp, as well as a remote 25-person camp and a winter-use 1 500-meter airstrip. Water requirements for the Project are expected at 300 cubic meters per day.”
• The Project has been assigned file #2024-0043, and project documents will be available on the YESAB registry at: https://yesabregistry.ca/ 
• Since 2019, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (“VGFN”) has been working closely with Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Government and First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, through the North Yukon Intergovernmental Oil and Gas Forum and in accordance with the North Yukon First Nations Intergovernmental Accord, on shared priorities related to the sustainable development of oil and gas resources in our Traditional Territories.
• VGFN has secured funding through Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) to support participation in the YESAB Executive Committee Screening process. 

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