The official Opposition has again raised concerns over proposed oil and gas development in the Whitehorse Trough.

"Yukoners are calling for land use planning in the Whitehorse Trough before we let the world's most powerful industry into our backyards,” said NDP Leader Liz Hanson said during question period in the legislature Monday.

"However, government representatives have said at those meetings that land use planning takes too long and we have to push ahead with industrial development.”

The government says options remain open until the current public review period is complete.

As it stands, the government permits companies to nominate parcels of land twice annually with a 60-day public review period, after which a decision is made.

"Since the Yukon Oil and Gas Act came into place in the late 1990s, no one has filed to request rights in the Whitehorse Trough until now,” said Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Brad Cathers.

He reminded the house that any potential project would still be subject to environmental review before it could commence.

"Every individual well, every individual project, if rights are issued, still has to go through a review by YESAB (the Yukon Environmental Socio-economic Assessment Board) and still has to have a permit issued by our very capable regulators and staff in the oil and gas resources branch,” said Cathers.

However, without land use planning, Hanson argued, including a moratorium on coal-bed methane and fracking, the methods of future oil and gas extraction in the Whitehorse Trough could simply be left to the corporations themselves.

"It is the oil and gas industry that decides which extraction methods it wants to use — conventional drilling, coal-bed methane mining, or hydraulic fracturing,” she said.

"There is an old adage that says you can invite an elephant into the room, but it decides when and if it will leave.”

Hanson believes four or five First Nations governments should be involved in the process. She called for the prioritization of potential impacts to human health, environment, water and wildlife, as well as local energy needs over the export of oil and gas.

Cathers suggested the government would adhere to best practices within the industry with respect to fracking.

"One early result from this review that I can announce is that we intend to place limitations in this area to prevent anyone from even applying for a permit to do shallow fracking,” he said.