Local look at Energy East Pipeline project

Dozens of area residents attended the TransCanada Energy East Pipeline Open House November 20, at Matilda Hall, Dixon’s Corners to learn more about the proposed multi-billion project.

“This is a $12 billion project – One of the biggest infrastructure projects in the history of the country,” said TransCanada spokesperson Tim Duboyce.

This open house which had a dozen TransCanada experts on hand to answer questions is part of the extensive consultative process that the company has undertaken.

October 30, TransCanada Corporation filed the formal application for the Energy East Pipeline Project with the Nation Energy Board of Canada.

The NEB has 15 months to process the application and hold their own consultative process before presenting their report to the federal government.

“Ultimately, this is a federal government decision,” said Duboyce.

If the government approves the project early (January-February) in  2016 and all goes as planned, the Energy East Pipeline will go into operation at the end of 2018, including the conversion and the new build. 

Energy East is a 4,600 km pipeline that will carry approximately 1.1 million of barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in Eastern Canada.

Major components of the project include converting a section of an existing natural gas pipeline to an oil transportation pipeline. That conversion runs from North Bay to the existing station at Iroquois.

New pipeline will be built to link up with the converted pipe from Iroquois through Quebec to New Brunswick.

Along with that new pipeline construction will come the construction of the associated facilities, pump stations and tank terminals required to move crude oil from Alberta to Quebec and New Brunswick.

The project includes the construction of new terminals along the route, one in Saskatchewan, one in Cacouna, Quebec, and one in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Approximately 70 per cent of the pipeline is already in the ground and more than half of the new pipeline segments will run parallel to existing pipeline rights of way.

Converting one of the pipelines in the Canadian Mainline natural gas transmission system to crude oil service will make better use of the capacity of the Canadian Mainline that is no longer needed to export natural gas to the United States, explained Duboyce.

Along with the Energy East Pipeline project application, TransCanada also filed an application to build and operate the Eastern Mainline Pipeline Project in Southern Ontario. This proposed $1.5 billion, 600 mmcf/d project will provide an additional 250 km of natural gas pipeline in an area where the demand and need are strong – the Toronto to Montreal corridor – providing greater access to affordable new natural gas supplies from the northeastern United States.

A local open house for that Eastern Mainline natural gas pipeline project will take place December 3, 2014 at the Iroquois Civic Centre.

That proposed natural gas pipeline will primarily follow the existing route where TransCanada currently operates two natural gas pipelines.

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