(CBC NEWS)

There is more work to be done before the Mackenzie Valley gas project can begin construction.

That is the general theme of the recently released recommendations from the Joint Review Panel on the proposed pipeline.

The report includes 176 conditions expected to be met before the $16.2 billion project can begin construction.

Imperial Oil and its partners are now assessing what the panel's conditions mean.

"All of those have implications for the potential cost of the project," said company spokesman Pius Rolheiser. He said the proponents plan to offer comments to the National Energy Board within the next three weeks.

"The proponents are pleased that the Joint Review Panel has concluded that with appropriate measures to mitigate potential impacts, that the Mackenzie Project is in the public interest, and should be allowed to move forward," he said.

The panel recommends that the federal government ensure that natural gas is used to replace dirtier fuels such as oil from tar sands. That pleases environmental groups, including Ecology North.

"Without a national framework for greenhouse gas emission reductions, there's no guarantee that gas from the Mackenzie Gas Project would actually be used to help Canada reduce its overall emissions," said Doug Ritchie, program director at Ecology North. "So they recognized that, and they said basically there has to be national regulation."

The panel says the federal government should share its income from the project if it proceeds.

But there is no guarantee northerners will reap jobs from the project, should it proceed.

"The panel actually recognizes — basically sort of threw up their hands, and said, there's no way that people can get trained up in time for the construction boom," said Kevin O'Reilly of Alternatives North, a Yellowknife-based social justice group.

The territorial government said it is working on a response to the panel's recommendations