Canada's Trans Mountain ordered to stop work over environmental non-compliance (updated)

Canada Energy Partners

02/11/2023 20:02

(Adds details from CER order)
    By Ismail Shakil and Nia Williams
       OTTAWA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - 
    The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) on Thursday ordered the
Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project to stop work in a
wetland area near Abbotsford, British Columbia, after inspectors
found several environmental and safety-related non-compliances.
  
    Some of the non-compliances include insufficient fencing to
protect amphibians and unapproved vegetation clearing, the
regulator said in a notice on its website.
    The CER issued an Inspection Officer Order to Trans Mountain
ordering it to stop work in the wetland until the
non-compliances are corrected, investigate their root cause and
conduct a safety inspection to confirm the site is safe for
work.
        Trans Mountain Corp, the Canadian government-owned
corporation building the expansion project, did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
  
        The 590,000 barrel-per-day oil pipeline expansion
project is due to start operating early next year and will open
up markets in Asia and on the U.S. West Coast for Canadian
crude.
  
        However, construction has been plagued by regulatory
delays and cost over-runs and the expansion is set to cost
C$30.9 billion ($22.49 billion), more than four times its
original budget.
  
        In 2021, Trans Mountain was ordered to stop work for
four months to protect hummingbird nests along a one-kilometre
section of its route.
  
        
  

 (Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Nia Williams; edtditing by
Leslie Adler and Diane Craft)
 ((ismail.shakil@tr.com;))