Spectra Energy plans Salmon River pipeline crossing

VANCOUVER, B.C. - In the footsteps of investments by the British Columbian government, Encana Corp. and TransCanada Corp., Spectra Energy Corp, a U.S. gas infrastructure company, has announced plans to start a pipeline crossing project at the Salmon River in British Columbia.
Discussions with the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Fisheries and Oceans are still ongoing, according to Spectra’s manager of community and aboriginal relations, as the company deals with concerns expressed by various groups.
The project plan is to start construction in the third week of June. Construction of the river bore is expected to take about six months to complete. Spectra will drill a “pilot hole” to a depth of approximately 20 meters under the Salmon River, and then pull the pipeline through that pilot hole after it is enlarged.
Spectra is the third largest natural gas pipeline company in North America. It is expanding its gathering and processing capacity to accommodate gas from the Horn River shale, and adding storage caverns along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Between 2009 to 2012, Spectra plans a number of expansion projects to increase gathering and processing capacity in Fort Nelson, B.C., in order to accommodate gas from the Horn River basin. The company reports firm “take or pay” initial commitments from eight customers totaling 750 mmcf/day.

Report from U.S. CFR contends claims of oil sands pollution overstated

NEW YORK - A new report from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) – “The Canadian Oil Sands: Energy Security vs. Climate Change” - contends that prudent greenhouse gas regulations can limit emissions from Canadian oil sands while still enabling development of the energy resource.
The report argues that oil sands production delivers both energy security benefits and climate change damages, but warns that both are often overstated. “For the near future, the economic and security value of oil sands expansion will likely outweigh the climate damages that the oil sands create,” it says, “but climate concerns cannot and must not be ignored, and will become more important over time.”
Policymakers, the report warns, must carefully balance the two concerns.
Smart regulation can place a fair and reasonable price on the oil sands’ greenhouse gas emissions, providing the right incentive to reduce them, but ill-conceived regulation could undermine U.S. and Canadian climate and security goals.
Michael A. Levi, CFR’s David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment, and the report’s author, argues that it is important to integrate U.S. and Canadian cap-and-trade systems, while warning against the risks of a Canada-only cap-and-trade scheme and against an ill-designed U.S. low-carbon fuel standard.
In the contentious debate about oil sands, some argue that the U.S. should discourage the development of oil sands because its operations generate more climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil production. Others argue that the U.S. should actively encourage their development because it would strengthen U.S. energy security with a supply of oil from a friendly and stable neighbor.

Illinois Commerce Commission tells Enbridge to go make peace with landowners

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has thrown a wrench into the well-oiled plans of Enbridge Energy to build a 170-mile pipeline, ordering it to reach an agreement with upset property owners.
The board said the pipeline's path makes sense, but wouldn't grant Enbridge eminent domain to take land to lay its pipe.
A group of 200 landowners near Bloomington, Ill., are refusing to sign an agreement with the company for putting the pipeline on their property.
Back in February, the ICC said Enbridge could get eminent domain, but now more talks are needed.
Delays are pushing construction on the half-billion dollar pipeline back a year.
Building could start in 2010.

Enbridge Energy environmental assessment available for comment

MADISON, Wis. – Environmental officials in Wisconsin have invited the public to comment on an Environmental Assessment (EA) prepared by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for the Enbridge Alberta Clipper petroleum pipeline system project.
Enbridge Energy Co. of Superior has applied to the Wisconsin DNR for waterway and wetland crossing permits and air quality permits for the proposed project. The company will also need a stormwater permit and an endangered resources review for the project.
The proposed project consists of constructing a new 36-inch diameter petroleum pipeline known as the Alberta Clipper, a new 20-inch diameter diluent return pipeline known as the Southern Lights, an associated pump station for the Southern Lights pipeline and five 250,000-barrel breakout tanks. The proposed pipelines would be constructed along a 13-mile route in Douglas County from the Wisconsin-Minnesota border to the Enbridge Superior Terminal in Superior.
It requires 17 water body crossings, including 10 tributaries to the Pokegama River, three un-named waterways, two tributaries to the Little Pokegama River, one crossing of the Pokegama River and one crossing of an unnamed tributary to the Nemadji River.
The proposed pipelines would temporarily impact approximately 75 acres of wetland.
The pump station and breakout tanks at the Superior Terminal would fill approximately 12 acres of wetland and temporarily impact approximately three acres of wetland.
The project as proposed is not anticipated to result in significant adverse environmental effects, according to DNR officials. DNR has made a preliminary determination that an environmental impact statement will not be required.

FERC gives Downeast LNG project favorable review

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators on May 18 gave a favorable environmental review of Downeast LNG's proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Washington County, Me.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Downeast LNG's proposed LNG terminal and pipeline would have some adverse environmental impacts, but that they could be "reduced to less-than-significant levels" by the company's proposed mitigation efforts and additional recommendations included in FERC's draft environmental impact statement.
Downeast LNG is proposing a 320,000-cubic-meter LNG terminal, storage tanks, regasification plant and a pier on an 80-acre site on Passamaquoddy Bay in Robbinston, as well as a pipeline that would send the natural gas 30 miles northwest to a point near Baileyville where it would connect with Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline LLC's existing pipeline.

Wilbros denies picketers’ claims that it’s paying substandard wages on pipeline construction jobs

JACKSONVILLE, Texas – Wilbros began work in March on a 143-mile Energy Transfer Partners’ natural gas pipeline that passes through northern Cherokee County on its way to Minden, Texas, from Maypearl, Texas.
Officials with Willbros Group, the construction company building the pipeline, have said they will employ as many as 1,200 workers at its peak.
At least two union groups have been picketing Willbros Group’s local headquarters in protest of the company’s hiring practices.
“We’ve been picketed at several locations over the years,” said Harry New, Wilbros project director for the natural gas pipeline.
New said some of the reasons the Texas picket line formed aren’t true –specifically, allegations concerning the company’s employment pools and pay scales.
“All the people we hire are legal to work in the U.S.,” New said. “We’ve also implemented a 401K and offer benefits. It’s up to the employee to elect to take advantage of them.”

Wet spring slows TransCanada Keystone construction in South Dakota

ABERDEEN, S.D. - The resumption of work on the TransCanada oil pipeline in northeast South Dakota has been delayed because of an exceptionally wet spring.
The prime contractor says many fields are too wet and some roads have load limits so it's impossible to get heavy equipment to rural sites.
The pipeline will carry crude oil from Canada through 10 counties in eastern South Dakota and on to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma.
Some pipeline such as at stream crossings was buried in the northeast part of the state last year before crews quit for winter.
TransCanada spokesman Jeff Rauh says in spite of the delay this spring, the line should be operational by late this year.