Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of TransCanada PipeLines Limited, an affiliate of TC Energy Corporation, is reporting a productive work season. They are constructing a single natural gas pipeline (1219 mm outside diameter pipe (OD) Nominal Pipe Size (NPS) 48) loop that will loop the existing British Columbia Mainline and the Foothills South B.C. Pipeline (Elko Section), and an expansion of the Kingsgate Border Meter Station (Kingsgate Border MS).
Teresa Sydenham, TC Energy Community Relations Advisor, commented, “We had a slow start due to a wet spring however the fall weather was in the projects favour – we achieved our objectives and are on schedule.”
Construction of the project is scheduled to occur from July 2022 through to 2023, with an in-service date of November 2023. The south end of the Elko section is located approximately 14 km east of the community of Elko and the northern end is located approximately 18 km east of the community of Fernie. The existing Kingsgate Border Meter Station is located approximately 250 m west of Highway 95 adjacent to the Canada/US border. See the TC Energy factsheet here.
A portion of the Elko Section of the proposed project crosses federal crown freehold lands, specifically the Dominion Coal Block. The Federal crown holds a fee simple interest in these lands which are managed by Natural Resources Canada. The remainder of the route crosses private land and provincial crown land.
The estimated cost of the project is $402,000,000 and is required to increase capacity on the Foothills South B.C. (Zone 8) system to meet existing and incremental contractual obligations.
The environmental and socio-economic assessment for the Project stated that the residual environmental or socio-economic effects arising from Project construction and operation are predicted to be not significant. No cumulative effects are predicted. Potential adverse environmental effects are expected to be mitigated effectively with appropriate environmental protection measures identified within the Environmental Protection Plan developed for the Project. Potential effects of decommissioning or abandonment activities will be assessed in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements at the time of abandonment and decommissioning.
The pictures communicate the scale of the project and that TC Energy is ready to lay the pipe in 2023.
