Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 6-9 p.m.
Brunswick Pipeline Office Boardroom
895 Ashburn Road
Robin McAdam, President, Brunswick Pipeline
Rob Belliveau, General Manager, Brunswick Pipeline
Susan Harris, Brunswick Pipeline Community Relations Manager
Claude MacKinnon, Co-Chair
Horst Sauerteig
Peter Hanlon
Gordon Dalzell
Christine Saumure
Regrets:
Midge Thompson, Carmel McCaig, Ellen Murphy, David Peterson
Guest:
Bill Nooyen, Brunswick Pipeline Project Manager, Spectra Energy
Robin McAdam introduced Rob Belliveau, the new General Manager for Brunswick Pipeline, noting that Rob will be taking on the Co-Chair position with the Liaison Committee. He advised that he has assumed other duties within Emera, taking on the task of finding ways to increase Nova Scotia Power's mix of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. Robin remains President of Brunswick Pipeline but is transitioning day-to-day management of Brunswick Pipeline to Rob. Robin thanked the Committee members for their participation, hard work and dedication.
The agenda was accepted as presented.
The minutes of the meeting held on November 20, 2008 were accepted as presented.
i) Murielle Provost- SJEMO- Murielle was originally scheduled to attend the meeting on February 19 which was cancelled due to inclement weather. Murielle was unable to attend on the rescheduled date, therefore another more convenient date is being discussed.
ii) Concerns about emergency response and a secondary access to and from Milford have been resolved.
iii) Community Concerns- to be discussed at the meeting.
i) Red Head Meter Station (Rob Belliveau)
* Rob presented a slide show of photographs taken of the Red Head meter station and explained what takes place at this station. This meter station was completed in late January, 2009.
* The meter station measures the quality and quantity of the gas received from the CanaportTM LNG terminal. It is also the location where the odorant (Mercaptan) is injected into the pipeline.
* Gas enters the Brunswick Pipeline system through one of three headers after which a strainer detects any solids. The gas then continues through an ultra sonic meter to detect the flow pressure. The ultra sonic meter sends ultra sonic waves, picks up the velocity of the gas passing through, then sends the information to the transmitter. At the same time as the pressure is assessed, the amount of gas is measured. Gas composition is checked using a gas chromatograph to ensure it meets customer quality requirements.
* Brunswick Pipeline does quality control for their own benefits as to cover their responsibilities to their customers and to the pipeline service in general.
* Gas Control in Houston monitors the pipeline 24/7 and communicates with Brunswick Pipeline technicians if issues are detected.
* A question was asked about responsibility for the quality of the gas provided to the pipeline. Rob reported that the responsibility is Canaport’s to ensure it meets the specifications of its customers. Brunswick Pipeline monitors the gas as a check and balance to ensure quality is maintained. If specifications are not being met, Brunswick Pipeline can “shut in” the Canaport facility until quality is restored. Brunswick Pipeline is responsible for monitoring the moisture levels as too much moisture in the pipeline leads to corrosion.
* There are three odorant tanks inside the Odorant Building at the meter station. Two are always in service and the third provides redundancy. Each tank is double-hulled, and has a fully enclosed storage area below it in the case of a tank failure.
* The odorant is delivered by truck from Texas, as is the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline Saint John lateral supply. Trucks are escorted to the site once the trucks crossed the Canada-U.S. border. Emergency response agencies are advised ahead of time, and are advised by the preceding jurisdiction as the truck crosses coverage boundaries.
* It takes only a few parts per million of mercaptan to give natural gas a smell of rotten eggs and in the pipeline is considered a harmless, non-toxic chemical. In its concentrated form, it is considered a hazardous chemical. The odorant building has a venting system to prevent any released gases from escaping into the environment.
ii) Winter Monitoring and 2009 Clean-up of the Right of Way (RoW) (Bill Nooyen)
* Winter monitoring is taking place between the months of February and May, and Brunswick Pipeline remains responsible for the RoW as per the commitment to New Brunswick Department of Environment.
* Part of winter monitoring will include, for example, checking for erosion, ensuring sedimentation control devices are functioning and maintained appropriately, and monitoring weather forecasts, among others. During periods of inactivity, such as when the RoW remains frozen, monitoring will be minimized. Fortunately, the RoW was left in good condition at the end of the construction season.
* Regular monitoring methods include: weekly fixed wing patrols; monthly helicopter patrols with project personnel; ground reconnaissance in the urban area and as necessary in the rural; and maintaining open communication with Regulators (weekly and bi-weekly meeting).
* An Environmental Emergency Response Team (EERT) plan is in place in case of major events. The plan will be enacted on notification from operations or monitoring staff, through the Contractor.
* Final clean up and restoration of the RoW will take place approximately June through fall 2009. Rough clean-up will be completed on 45 kms of RoW; final clean up to be completed on 127 kms of RoW; and some small access culverts will be re-installed (after the June 1 Department of Fisheries and Oceans window for all in-stream activities).
* As always, the work schedule will be dependent upon weather and RoW conditions. Road weight restrictions and spring thawing of frozen spoil piles will also be also a factor.
* Work will start in the urban area and will then carry on to the rural section. Production is projected at 1.5 kilometres per day. Culverts and bridges will be removed as the clean-up progresses.
* Early estimates anticipate that 5 bulldozers, 4 backhoes and a grader will be used as well as labourers, mechanics, truck drivers, etc., with a total of 55-60 personnel during this time.
* Additional HADD (harmful alteration, disruption or destruction) project ideas will be sent from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) prior to work commencing. There were 12 crossings in which there were concerns that high water conditions that may have necessitated a wet crossing, however, only 4 were required. An application was sent to the DFO explaining the process and the possible environmental impacts. The DFO is concerned with spatial compensation and knowing how much of the habitat was displaced during these crossings since permanent damage and displacement is presumed. Because of this presumption, Brunswick Pipeline has committed to habitat restoration projects to compensate for the four wet crossings that took place. All four of these wet crossings took place in the rural area. The focus right now for a restoration project is on the Magaguadavic River crossing; 6 projects in total have been presented from the DFO for potential restoration areas.
* Other remaining project activity include the completion of survey plans (legal survey drawings); preparation of final easement documents; ensuring all clean up commitments to landowners are fulfilled which includes approximately 308 PIDs/properties (PIDs may have several owners on title making it very difficult and time consuming to contact all landowners and ensure their land restoration commitments have been fulfilled); obtain final signature on all easement documents and clean up approval forms; make 3rd and final payments and pay any approved outstanding damage claims.
* All of these final steps are crucial in making sure the right of way and final pipeline project have a quality finish and all commitment made by Brunswick Pipeline in the construction and maintenance of the right of way for the pipeline are fulfilled.
Questions were raised as to whether weekly/bi-weekly reports will be available to the public. Susan informed the committee that she will distribute reports as they are filed.
Questions were also asked as to who is responsible for specific problems on the right of way, i.e. dumping of garbage. Brunswick Pipeline works with the landowners to maintain the right of way. In the event of illegal dumping on the right of way, Brunswick Pipeline officials would be expected to clean up the dumping, contact the authorities and work with the landowners in an attempt to prevent the dumping and other trespassing on the right of way as well as maintaining the appearance of the right of way.
Rob Belliveau provided a progress report. The line was completed mechanically in late January 2009. Purge and pack was completed in mid-February, with the purging of air and introduction of natural gas from the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline system in Baileyville Maine, through the rural and then to the urban section of the pipeline using three valve sites. Technicians monitored the air being purged and would ignite a flare when gas was present. This procedure would continue for as long as it took to achieve 3 readings of 100% gas present, approximately 40 minutes to an hour. The final purge section ended at the Red Head meter station.
The pipeline had 250 lbs of pressure at the end of the day. More gas was then added to raise the pressure to 750 psi. Presently, the pipeline is ready for commencement of gas shipment from Canaport.
In regards to the First Nations’ participation in the construction of the pipeline, targets for the number of First Nations involved in the project were met. First Nations workers were hired through the Union Hall through Contractors. Other opportunities for First Nations workers to be involved in the pipeline will come during the clean up work.
During clean-up close attention will be paid to environmental issues. A Brunswick Pipeline mock emergency exercise is being planned for sometime in June. The secondary access road in Milford is now open through the NB Southern Rail yard.
(i) Letters regarding ERP through NEB from Horst Sauerteig and Brunswick Pipeline’s response were distributed to Committee members.
(ii) Letters regarding the ERP through NEB from Leland Thomas and Janice Edlridge-Thomas and Brunswick Pipeline’s response were distributed to Committee members.
(iii) Comments on the ERP from Gordon Dalzell were also distributed to Committee members. Mr. Dalzell was asked if he wished for the company to deal with the issues he raised, or if he would be submitting the document to the NEB, with Robin McAdam explaining the response process followed when the NEB receives letters/concerns. Mr. Dalzell decided that he would submit the document to the NEB, and so Brunswick Pipeline will wait for direction from the NEB before formulating a response.
Location to be determined.
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