Pipeline project to boost Pincher economy this summer

A pipeline expansion project is expected to bring over 400 tradespeople into Pincher Creek and the surrounding MD by August, according to representatives from TC Energy. 

TC, which hopes to start twinning a 7.5-kilometre stretch of its natural gas pipeline through Lundbreck on June 1, anticipates an average of 150 personnel will be working on-site through the end of September. 

Up to 425 personnel will handle the actual pipeline twinning, which the company expects will take a few weeks starting in late August. 

There will be no work camp, meaning all pipeline personnel will stay at local accommodations and support local eateries, construction manager Patrick Dutka told MD council at chambers May 23. 

The project will kick off at North Burmis Road, in the MD’s Division 5. 

The road isn’t designed to accommodate industrial traffic, so Dutka said the company has arranged to bring heavy loads on-site via the nearby Chapel Rock Road. 

“We want to keep a close eye on the dust situation,” Dutka said, qualifying that, “Heavy loads will be sporadic” anyway. 

TC will make it plain that all work vehicles are to respect the area’s 60 km/h speed limit, he added. 

Council thanked Dutka and another company representative for their presentation, stressing at several points that the project would come as a boon to the local economy. 

The expansion will add capacity to TC’s Nova Gas Transmission Line, which feeds natural gas to markets in northeastern British Columbia and Alberta, according to TC’s website.

Project information is available in the NGTL West Path Delivery 2023 Factsheet and on the Canada Energy Regulator website.