Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 20 November 2008 |
Enbridge official Doug Ford with a cross section of pipe in the Coast Inn of the North. (Citizen staff photo)
Key issues in the complex project -- described as the largest crude oil pipeline expansion in North America -- include mountainous terrain, hundreds of river crossings and a tanker terminal at Kitimat.
The 1,170-kilometre pipeline is proposed to carry oil from the Alberta oil sands to Kitimat where it will be exported to regions like Asia and California. A twin pipeline will carry condensate, an oil thinner, back to the Alberta. The thrust behind the project is to create an offshore export outlet for Alberta oilsands which normally flow south to the interior of the United States.
The project was shelved in late 2006, but was put back on the front burner earlier this year when Enbridge secured $100 million from Western oil producers and key Asian refiners to get the project through a joint regulatory process with the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
The Calgary-based company hopes to file its regulatory application in mid-2009. If all goes well, construction could start in 2010 or 2011.
"We will have a very high bar for us to get regulatory approval -- we've got another two years of hard slugging to get to that point," Enbridge official Doug Ford said Thursday at an open house in Prince George.
Added Ford, who's helping steer the stakeholder input process: "There's two years of engagement with over 50 First Nations between Edmonton and Kitimat. Two years of engagement with the environmental organizations which have lots of issues and concerns. Two years of engagement with the general public. So, it's by not means going to be a slam dunk."
Enbridge has already held 13 information sessions in the past month, in Alberta and in northern B.C. The pipeline route passes near Bear Lake, just north of Prince George, just south of Fort St. James and near Vanderhoof and Burns Lake.
Ford said during the northern B.C. open houses they have had interest in the novelty of the project (there are no oil pipelines west of Prince George), the socio-economic opportunities and much interest in how the route is going to be picked.
The pipeline will be buried but the company has to contend with about 20 or 30 significant water crossings where one means might be to put the pipeline under the rivers, likely 30 to 50 metres below ground.
One of the risks of pipelines are spills, and the pipeline will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week from an Edmonton control centre, said Ford. Shut-off valves are typically located in sensitive areas, for example, on either side of a river.
Thousands of workers will be needed during the 2-1/2 years of construction, but relatively few when complete. Probably about 50 workers in Kitimat and a handful of workers along the route in a few communities
Dozens of people packed into a room at the Coast Inn of the North to ask questions of Enbridge officials, fill out questionnaires, examine a scale model of the Kitimat terminal and pour over a large map of the proposed route of the pipeline
Newly elected city councillor Cameron Stolz -- one of several city councillors who stopped in at the information event -- said he liked the project. Stolz, who had done some research before the open house, said the company is doing a good job on considering First Nations interests and the environmental aspects of the project. Stolz also liked the fact the company is looking at using local subcontractors along the route as opposed to creating a work camp. A major project like this is also welcome in uncertain economic times, said Stolz.
Environmental groups -- including the Dogwood Initiative -- have raised concerns about tanker traffic along the west cost and questioned the long-term benefits of the pipeline to communities.
The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, which represents eight bands west of Prince George, also has environmental concerns about the project, particularly the possibility of a spill in a river like the Stuart, which flows into the Nechako River. "The early and late Stuart sockeye stock are in decline and have been for a number of years, so, one oil spill happens during the time of a run, then game over," said Carrier Sekani Tribal Council chief David Luggi.
The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council are unhappy with the assessment process, and want the provincial and federal government to pony up funding for a separate First Nations process to examine the project.
Luggi said they will not consider capacity funding from Enbridge if there are strings attached. He says the company had tied funding to the First Nation's participation in the National Energy Board assessment process. The council has balked at that suggestion.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 20 November 2008 )
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