Spectra Looking to Launch Salmon River Crossing Project This Summer

Friday, May 22, 2009 03:53 AM

Prince George, B.C.- Spectra Energy Corp, hopes to start a pipeline crossing project at the Salmon River this summer. “We still have some discussions with the Ministry of Environment and Fisheries and Oceans” says Steve Henderson, Spectra’s Manager of Community and Aboriginal Relations.

The project would take about 6 months to complete and would involve going under the Salmon River.

The Salmon River poses a couple of major challenges says Henderson, “The river itself is migrating laterally and then there is the number of log jams that regularly occur on the Salmon River.”

The plan would see a pilot hole drilled to a depth of more than 20 meters, and the pipeline would be pulled through that pilot hole. The target start date for that project is the third week in June.

Henderson says Spectra is trying to work with all its stakeholders to identify concerns and issues and admits there are some communities ( including First Nations) who have identified some issues “We are working with those communities to mitigate the problems.”

Spectra is the third largest natural gas pipeline company in North America. It had cut spending on infrastructure to $650 million this year down from it’s normal $1 billion dollars a year, but the company’s CEO Greg Ebel says he expects Spectra to head back up to the one billion a year mark in in 2010.

The increase in spending is directly linked to the development of the Horn River Basin Shale gas find in north eastern B.C. “Certainly there is a demand for this product and there is a supply” says Henderson who says estimates the Horn River Basin natural gas find could produce 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

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Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 03:53 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: seamutt on May 22 2009 8:13 AM

Be interesting to see if they are allowed to remove any log jams. The log jams that reform every year are not allowed to be touched even it they threaten flooding. That river is what, between 100 and 200 K long and for the few K through the community of Salmon River, the log jams cannot be touched to mitigate erosion and flood relief because of danger to the fish. Interesting to see if the gas company gets to make some changes.

Posted by: Eagleone on May 22 2009 11:52 PM

The Salmon River from last fall has shifted over 100 meters in either direction of its old bank. Bank/plateau's that were 15-20 feet high were replaced by river and the old river bed is now islands. No river I know of moves around as much as the Salmon River does even though the Salmon is in a valley it seems to make no difference and it just goes where it wants to no matter the obstacle that gets in its place. For this reason this is a very dangerous river to make a pipeline crossing on and I think should be scrutinized a lot, or it will be a major environmental disaster at some point.

Posted by: sling4000 on May 24 2009 5:08 AM

Speaking as someone actually fighting eminent domain -- or expropriation -- in U.S. federal court with Houston-based Spectra Energy, beware of Spectra's "charm" offensive.

Our group's goal is to share information with fellow property owners in North America who are involved in property rights issues and Spectra Energy.

For a quick look, check out the landowner video and latest blogs on our website:
http://www.spectraenergywatch.com/blog/