Twinning the B.C. section of the Trans Mountain pipeline will begin in the North Thompson by this fall, the company says in its latest six-month work schedule filed to the National Energy Board.
Work is underway along the entire line from Edmonton to Burnaby to set up temporary construction yards and camps with worker accommodation and construction offices, as well as pipe stockpile sites in Valemount, Blue River, Clearwater, Merritt and Hope.
Work is scheduled to begin in September to clear and survey a 120 km section of pipeline route between Mt. Robson Provincial Park and Blue River, connecting to a longer section between Edmonton and Jasper National Park in Alberta.
Work includes wildlife surveys, weed control and relocation of rare plants to comply with the 157 conditions required by the NEB and a further 37 conditions in the B.C. government’s environmental certificate. Despite federal and provincial approvals and what the company calls “unprecedented scrutiny,” the project continues to be dogged by orchestrated protests.
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Spending on the project has resumed after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in May the federal government is buying the project assets for $4.5 billion, to ensure the twinning of the 65-year-old pipeline that delivers synthetic heavy crude and refined fuels from the Alberta oil sands to B.C. and Washington state refineries.
Kinder Morgan Canada negotiated the sale after setting a deadline of late May to have assurances that the project would proceed without interference from the B.C. government.
Work continues this summer on expansion of the Sumas terminal at Abbotsford, Burnaby terminal and Westridge marine terminal, which includes a tunnel through a portion of Burnaby Mountain.
more to come…
