Canada’s National Energy Board approved the $16.2-billion, 1,200-kilometer Mackenzie Valley Pipeline in the Northwest Territories, Canada, but financial and regulatory hurdles remain. The gas project aims to develop three major Arctic natural-gas fields and a pipeline to bring the resource to the southern markets. The project still needs final approval from the federal government in early 2011, more than 6,000 additional project permits and a funding framework. The best-case scenario would see gas flowing by 2018, say industry sources.