A National Energy Board oral hearing to review concerns raised regarding the proposed Sundre Crossover Pipeline project was held in Calgary last week.
"The board has not yet issued a ruling on the Sundre Crossover Project," Sarah Kiley, a communications officer for the National Energy Board, told the Round Up by email.
Among the intervenors addressing officials at the Monday, Dec. 18 hearing were Bergen-area landowner Lance Greer and his expert witness Bernard Amell, as well as Dorothy Thengs on behalf of Grace Feedyards and Duane Grace.
Also in attendance were Martin Ignasiak and Azalea Jin, representatives of NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd., the TransCanada subsidiary behind the proposed pipeline. In light of concerns expressed by some landowners and stakeholders, the NEB earlier this summer struck a three-member panel to look into claims the project had been improperly rushed through without sufficient consultation and engagement with landowners whose properties stand to be affected by the large 42-inch pipeline.
The proposed project calls for a 21-kilometre stretch of a natural gas pipeline that will deliver volumes from two existing pipelines. The plan is essentially to connect the Edson main line located northeast of Sundre and to deliver that gas onto the western Alberta main line system just south of the municipality.
Greer, who has previously told the Round Up that he is not opposed to the project itself, but rather that he had concerns regarding how the route was selected and that the compensation offered was inadequate, asked about the process that determined the proposed pipeline's path.
"It's quite a long, detailed process and we take a lot ó account of a lot of different things when we make a route," said NGTL representative Brett Schoneck, according to the transcript available online.
"And in this case, our preferred route is preferred because it minimizes overall length, it avoids congested industrial areas to the greatest extent possible. It also avoids residential areas where people live to the greatest extent possible of all the routes. It avoids the Jackson Lake area. It avoids any other open body water ó watercourse crossings. It avoids having to do any technically challenging construction practices."
Michael Schmaltz, also representing NGTL, said when questioned regarding potentially negative impacts on Greer's property, which was formerly wetland that the landowner hoped to restore, that the company has not experienced problems in the past.
"We've constructed over 808 kilometres of pipeline that have been filed with the NEB. On those 808 kilometres, we've had 123 kilometres of wetlands that we've crossed, all different kinds of wetlands, organic and mineral source," said Schmaltz, according to the transcript.
"Through those continuous monitoring or post-construction monitoring programs, we've never seen any effects to those wetlands. We monitor those areas for two to five years, and still have not seen any effects to those wetlands because of the specific mitigation measures and construction practices."
Greer later said a few years of monitoring was insufficient to confidently assert there would not be any potential problems further down the proverbial road.
In final presentations, Ignasiak was firm in his company's position that due process was observed.
"The evidence shows that the Sundre Crossover is critical infrastructure that will enable producers to efficiently and cost effectively access crucial markets. We submit the evidence in this proceeding clearly establishes that the timely approval, construction, and operation of the Sundre Crossover Project is in the public interest," he said.
The hearing panel's chair overseeing the hearing, Roland George, said the board reserved its decision on the application.
The hearing, which started in the morning and adjourned at about 2 p.m., was broadcast live online, and an audio recording as well as a transcript of the proceedings is available through the NEB website under the NGTL Sundre Crossover Project home page.
