Scott Hayes | [email protected]
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Construction is now complete on the Jasper to Mount Robson leg of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
The company will now return to regular pipeline maintenance activities, including inline inspections and integrity digs, cutouts and repairs, natural hazards management, tank inspections and maintenance, various types of surveys, equipment upgrades and replacements, right-of-way and vegetation management and other projects.
“While our presence will be smaller with pipeline construction now complete, we look forward to staying good neighbours in the community and maintaining our positive relationship well into the future,” stated Trans Mountain’s media representative in an email to the Fitzhugh.
Maintenance projects range in size and scale, and completion timeframes can extend to several months and even beyond a year in some instances, the representative added.
Advance notification will be provided on such projects in keeping with the company’s commitment to open and transparent communication about its operations.
To complete the twinning of the pipeline system, Trans Mountain reactivated a segment of pipeline that extends from Hinton to Hargreaves, B.C. Upgrades were also made to the existing Jasper Pump Station.
A small workforce will stay in the region to conduct seeding and vegetation management, pull rig mats, clean up right-of-way access and pick up any remaining debris. Such tasks are expected to be done by late fall. A full-time staff will remain to work at the Jasper pump station.
The majority of construction is complete from Acheson east through Entwistle and Edson to Hinton. Final works, clean up and reclamation efforts continue in the area.
During this final phase, the public might notice small crews working intermittently on valve installation, right-of-way and access road cleanup, and vegetation/landscape work including reseeding, replanting and land reclamation.
The mechanical completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline is expected to occur before the end of the year, with the pipeline coming online in-service during the first quarter of 2024.
