Two of three agencies that created the panel to review the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline in the Northwest Territories are now pushing the panel to speed up the timeline for releasing its findings this year.

The Joint Review Panel, which was created in 2004 to evaluate the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project, announced last month that it would release its report in December 2009.

But in a letter to panel chairman Robert Hornal, obtained by CBC News, the chairmen of both the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board and the Inuvialuit Game Council say the December deadline is "not acceptable."

Instead, Rick Edjericon and Frank Pokiak demanded that the Joint Review Panel release its decision on the pipeline by the end of March, with the full text of its report to follow five months later.

"The December 2009 completion date came as a major surprise when we had recently been led to believe that a reasonable expectation would be for the English version of the panel's final report to be available by the end of March 2009, with the final published report to be available by the end of June 2009," read the letter, dated Dec. 23.

"The revised length of the [Mackenzie Gas Project Joint Review Panel] environmental impact review process is now significantly longer than that originally set out in the agreement, and the investment of time and resources has to date been much greater than had been anticipated as being necessary for this review."

Groups seek 'decision document' first

The two groups called on the panel to release a "decision document" by March 31, with "supplementary documents" due by Aug. 31.

The Joint Review Panel has not responded to the letter to date.

A consortium of companies, led by Imperial Oil, wants to build the 1,200-kilometre pipeline through the Northwest Territories to the Alberta border, where natural gas would connect to existing pipelines and flow to southern markets.

In 2004, the Inuvialuit Game Council and the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board agreed with then-federal environment minister Stéphane Dion to create the Joint Review Panel, an independent body that is examining potential impacts of the proposed pipeline on the people and environment along its route.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency also helped create the panel.

After wrapping up public hearings in November 2007, the panel had been quiet on when it would release its report, only saying it would come sometime in 2009.

The long wait frustrated the game council and the impact review board, which first demanded a specific deadline from the panel in late November.

The Joint Review Panel released its December 2009 deadline shortly after the agencies raised their concerns. A spokesman for the panel told CBC News that it needed time to sort through and analyze the volume of information it has to review.