If built, the 1,22-kilometre pipeline would run through the Mackenzie Valley in the N.W.T. to pipeline hubs in northern Alberta, connecting to southern markets. (CBC)

The price of reviewing the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline has risen to an estimated $18.6 million from its original target of $6.8 million, according to federal documents obtained by Permafrost Media.

The independent N.W.T. newsletter found that the full costs of the panel, which has been studying the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the pipeline project since 2006, will reach $18.6 million by April 2010.

About $3 million will be in payments to the panel's chairman and six members, while legal costs will top $3.5 million, according to the documents, which Permafrost Media posted online on Tuesday.

"The costs are astronomical," Anne Crossman, who is leading the investigation, told CBC News on Monday.

Earlier this year, federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice confirmed reports that the panel's costs have nearly tripled from $6.8 million to $18 million.

Report due in December

A consortium led by Imperial Oil proposes building the 1,220-kilometre natural gas pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta, through the Northwest Territories to markets in Alberta and the rest of North America.

The arm's-length joint review panel, which was formed in 2004 by then Environment Minister Stéphane Dion, was initially intended to report within 10 months of its creation.

The panel held 26 public hearings on the pipeline proposal from February 2006 to November 2007.

A number of delays have extended the panel's timeline for issuing its report and recommendations. It's currently scheduled to release its findings in December.

Much of the increased spending stems from the panel taking much longer than expected to do its work.

Crossman said she is still analyzing the 1,463 pages of information she received under an Access to Information request she filed seven months ago.

She said she had thought she would receive such information readily, since the panel reports to Prentice and one-third of its budget is funded by taxpayers.

However, she had to pay $2,500 to file her Access to Information request, although the original price tag was $5,000.

"I wouldn't call it necessarily a bargain!" she said with a laugh.

"We should have the right to ask questions and get answers, and we should not have to go through this rigamarole. The fact that we have to go through this is not my idea of a great, working democracy."