Latest Updates on the Trans Mountain Expansion Project

July 19, 2021 – Trans Mountain’s West Alternative Route approved

On July 19, 2021, the Commission issued its decision [Filing C14136] to approve Trans Mountain’s variance application for the West Alternative Route, which is located in the Coldwater Valley area of British Columbia. The West Alternate Route is approximately 18 kilometres long, deviating from the approved corridor at Kilometre Post (KP) 931.43 and rejoining the approved corridor at KP 946.88.

The Commission considered all submissions filed on the MH-032-2020 hearing record [Folder 3968494], including the Crown Consultation and Accommodation Report filed by the Canada Energy Regulator [Filing C13255].

The Commission indicated that reasons will follow in due course. As no Statements of Opposition were received objecting to the detailed route, methods of construction, or timing of construction, the Commission will shortly also approve the detailed route of the West Alternative Route. Before Trans Mountain can begin construction, it must still satisfy any applicable conditions of approval and requirements of other government departments.

July 15, 2021 – Five Trans Mountain Expansion Project detailed route hearing decisions issued

The Commission of the Canada Energy Regulator (Commission) recently released five detailed route decisions for Trans Mountain’s routing through the City of Chilliwack.

Trans Mountain sought approval for its detailed route in the summer of 2019. The Commission held hearings to determine whether Trans Mountain’s proposed detailed route on specific lands was the best possible route. The Commission also looked at whether the proposed methods and timing of construction was the most appropriate.

The Commission has now issued 11 detailed route decisions. As of today, 97 per cent of the detailed route has been approved.

Construction of the project can only proceed on lands where the detailed route of the pipeline has been approved, and applicable conditions have been met.

February 3, 2021 – Commission issues decision on Trans Mountain’s Notice of Motion and Constitutional Question

Trans Mountain will not be required to obtain municipal permits to clear trees for their expansion project corridor within the City of Burnaby, as the Commission of the Canada Energy Regulator (Commission) issued Order MO-002-2021 [Filing C11404] which granted the motion with reasons to follow.

The issuance of the Order follows oral arguments on Jan. 29, 2021, after the company filed a notice of motion and constitutional question on Dec. 15, 2020. A transcription of the proceedings can be found here [Folder 4038240] and audio recording can be found here on our website.

Trans Mountain asked the Commission for relief from seeking tree cutting permits under Burnaby’s tree bylaw on the basis that the bylaw is impairing and frustrating its ability to build the expansion project.

The Order states that Trans Mountain may proceed with the tree clearing within the municipality in the absence of the City of Burnaby having issued tree cutting permits under section 6 of the tree bylaw. The order can be found on the CER’s website [Filing C11404]

The Order also states that Trans Mountain must still comply with other relevant City of Burnaby bylaws, including any other sections of the tree bylaw that otherwise remain applicable or operative.

The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) is committed to making decisions in a predictable and expedient way. We confidently enforce some of the strictest safety and environmental standards in the world. Companies have to abide by CER requirements every step of the way as energy projects are planned, designed, built, operated and abandoned.

For more information on the CER’s oversight of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, please go to our website.

January 29, 2021 – Hearing process for the West Alternative Route variance application and detailed route hearings

Trans Mountain has requested approval to change the route of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (Project) for approximately 18 kilometres in the Coldwater Valley area of British Columbia. The Commission of the Canada Energy Regulator (Commission) has started a hearing process to determine if it will approve this change.

The proposed reroute is called the West Alternative Route. To proceed, Trans Mountain requires approval of its October 9, 2020 application [Filing C08844] to change the general location of the Project, which is called a variance.

For the variance, the Commission announced on November 3, 2020 that it would hold a public hearing, and shared how the public could register to participate [Filing C09302].

For the specific route of the pipeline within the proposed corridor, Trans Mountain filed its detailed route drawings on December 2, 2020 [Filing C10104]. These documents show, among other things, the exact location of the proposed pipeline on each property along the revised route, and who owns or occupies those lands. Trans Mountain notified all registered landowners and potentially impacted Indigenous communities of how the detailed route approval process would work, and published similar notices in newspapers.

Landowners and those who believe that their lands may be impacted by the proposed route, how it would be built, and/or the timing of construction were given 30 days after being notified (or the date of publication in newspapers) to register their objections to the reroute by filing a Statement of Opposition.

The Commission invited comments on a proposed hearing process combining the variance and detailed route processes on November 30, 2020. Comments from four participants were received. On January 8, 2021, the Commission issued the hearing order [Filing C10826] laying out the public hearing process to consider both the variance and detailed route for the West Alternative Route. The reasons for the Commission’s decision on process were issued on 11 January 2021 [Filing C10840].

By considering the variance and detailed route together, the Commission, along with all participants, will be able to hear all issues of concern related to the West Alternative Route in one proceeding. As the issues on the variance and detailed route are likely to be similar, this is expected to be easier for participants than holding two separate processes.

The first parts of the hearing begin this month, and includes virtual cross-examination scheduled to take place between May 5 and 11, 2021. The process is expected to be completed on May 31, 2021. See the hearing order for full details on hearing steps and deadlines [Filing C10826].

After the hearing concludes, the Commission will decide whether to approve the variance by examining whether it is in the public interest. If the variance is approved, the Commission will also decide on the detailed route of the pipeline under review in the variance process.

If the Commission decides that the Variance is not in the public interest, it will not need to make decisions with respect to the detailed route.

For more information on this project, please visit our website.

Please go to our website for more information on how the CER handles applications and runs public hearings into proposed energy projects.

December 4, 2020 – How Indigenous perspectives and participation are helping shape a better regulator for Canadian energy

• The following is an opinion co-authored by Gitane De Silva, CEO of the Canada Energy Regulator and Michelle Wilsdon and Kimberly Lavoie, Co-Chairs of the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee of the Trans Mountain expansion and existing pipeline. It appeared in the Calgaryherald.com site on Thursday, December 3, 2020.

Since 2017, the Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee (IAMC) for the Trans Mountain Expansion and existing pipeline has been forging new relationships between the Government of Canada, the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), and Indigenous communities impacted by the pipeline. A new way of working together outside of legal consultations, the IAMC supports Indigenous communities to meaningfully participate in monitoring the project and provides a forum for communities to come together to provide advice to the Government on topics of shared interest.

Indigenous members of the IAMC hold diverse views on the expansion project, but all share the goal of ensuring the project is built and operated safely, preventing harm to the environment and respecting Indigenous rights and interests.

A cornerstone of this new relationship is the Indigenous monitoring initiative, which has trained and supported more than 40 people from over 18 impacted Indigenous communities to directly participate in on-the-ground inspections and site visits with the CER, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Parks Canada as Indigenous monitors. IAMC Indigenous monitors bring Indigenous knowledge and values to the work of making sure Trans Mountain Corporation is living up to its commitments and the conditions, regulations, and legislation under which it operates. The initiative also supports open dialogue with regulators, the company, and the IAMC on issues that go beyond basic compliance verification and enforcement.

Recently, the CER and IAMC achieved the milestone of partnering on more than 50 joint compliance verification activities. Working together as a team is making the CER a better regulator, one that is learning to better understand and address Indigenous issues, and is helping to build the skills of Indigenous communities in areas like environmental, safety, and socio-economic monitoring.

The evolution of this partnership, among the first of its kind in Canada, has not been without its challenges. We have worked hard to build trust and relationships at every level from leadership to on-the-ground field staff, and looked to Indigenous elders to guide us on this journey in difficult times. Key to nurturing our relationship has been creating space for joint learning and dialogue around cultural perceptions of risk, changing how we define and prevent harm, building practical bridges between Western science and Indigenous knowledge, and reconciling Indigenous rights with effective regulation of Canadian energy infrastructure.

Much progress has been made. Two recent compliance activities were led by IAMC monitors. The activities were shaped by the monitors’ values and knowledge and focused on making sure the right measures were taken to reduce impacts to Indigenous sites of interest in BC and Alberta. These were among the first Indigenous monitor-led inspections with a Canadian federal regulator.

Thanks to the IAMC, Indigenous communities will increasingly have a say in where and when regulators inspect the pipeline’s construction and what regulators look at when they are there. Including Indigenous knowledge, cultures and traditional practices in the oversight of resource development and sustainable environmental management are important steps towards advancing the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This progress reflects a tremendous amount of important and hard work. We want to thank early champions like Chief Harvey McLeod of Upper Nicola Band, IAMC Member for Alberta First Nations Raymond Cardinal, Chief Marcel Shackelly of Nooaitch Indian Band, and countless others who have been instrumental in helping us realize the vision of Indigenous “boots on the ground”.

These are the first steps towards reconciliation in action and we know we have much further to go. Earning the trust and confidence of Indigenous peoples while building and operating safe and efficient pipelines and powerlines requires time and patience. We have so much to gain by working together and the CER and Indigenous Advisory and Monitoring Committee remains committed to cooperation, in the field and at the table.

September 29, 2020 – CER inspections continue all along the TMEP route

Since the beginning of this year, the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) has published 14 inspection reports that look at specific aspects of the safe construction and operation of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and existing line. Inspections are continuing this fall to oversee the numerous construction activities at various locations in Alberta and British Columbia where the route has been finalized. Inspections of the project are planned to align with the company’s construction schedule and condition compliance filings.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, the CER has adapted how it conducts its compliance verification activities, including inspections, to protect the health and safety of CER staff, its regulated companies, and all those we work closely with. In the current operating environment the CER is also working to verify that companies are taking all steps required to protect their workers.

The CER recently posted its inspection report [CV2021-224] which reviews compliance to the contractor code of conduct, the community orientation program, and implementation of COVID-19 safety and hygiene measures at the Valemont Camp. As construction of the project progresses this fall, the CER will continue to conduct inspections to oversee all aspects of the project, including how the environment is protected, people are kept safe and how the pipeline is being built and tested for service in compliance with our regulations.

June 4, 2020 – Detailed route now 86% approved

The Commission of the Canada Energy Regulator (Commission) has now approved more than 86 per cent of the detailed route of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (Project).

On June 4, the Commission approved 122 kilometres of the route in British Columbia [Filing C06676], or 12 per cent, of the entire pipeline route. There is now roughly 135 kilometres, or 14 per cent, of the total 991 kilometre route that remains to be finalized.

Specifically, the Project route is now fully approved in Segment 1 in Alberta, as well as in Segment 3 (between Hargreaves and Blue River) in B.C.. Segment 7 in Burnaby, B.C. is also finalized. A complete list of detailed route approvals can be found on the website.

Construction activities on the Project are only permitted in areas where all pre-construction conditions have been satisfied and the location of the pipeline route has been finalized through the detailed route process.

The portions of the route approved June 4, 2020, follow a May 29, 2020, Commission decision to revise the geographic scope of Detailed Route Hearing MH-027-2020 related to the opposition of Sema:th First Nation (also referred to as Sumas First Nation in recent filings) [Filing C06552].

Reasons for that decision are expected to be released shortly.

May 15, 2020 – Westridge Delivery Line Relocation decision

Today, the Commission of the CER released its decision on the application for the 3.6-kilometre-long Westridge Delivery Line Relocation, finding that it is in the public interest.

The project will replace an existing delivery line that currently transports oil from the Burnaby Terminal to the Westridge Marine terminal through residential areas of Burnaby. The new delivery line will use the same tunnel through Burnaby Mountain as the two other delivery lines that are part of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP). The full decision can be found here [Filing C06322].

Temporary physical disturbance caused by construction of the new delivery line is anticipated only at the proposed entry and exit points for the tunnel, both of which are within the fence lines of Trans Mountain-owned, industrial-zoned land at the Burnaby Terminal and Westridge Marine Terminal. Once the new delivery line is operational, the CER expects Trans Mountain to file an application to decommission the existing delivery line.

Based on Trans Mountain’s current schedule, tunneling activities through Burnaby Mountain are expected to commence in the fall/winter of 2020 and take upwards of two years to complete.

The new delivery line will not result in an increase in the approved volume of transported oil, and its location through Burnaby Mountain is responsive to previous feedback from residents requesting that the existing delivery line be moved from under Burnaby’s streets. This is consistent with the previous National Energy Board finding in the TMEP Certificate hearing that routing the two new TMEP delivery lines through Burnaby Mountain “is the preferable route because it avoids residential areas and urban infrastructure, reduces environmental effects during construction and operation, and minimizes risk during operation.”

Date modified:

2024-03-20