If everything goes according to plan, there could be more than a million barrels of oil flowing through the region by 2018.
TransCanada Pipelines, which has more than 70,000 kilometres of pipeline throughout North America, is looking to convert a natural gas line that would ship 1.1 million barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta to New Brunswick. The proposed Energy East Pipeline would run North of Thunder Bay but the company made a presentation to city council Monday. Land, community and Aboriginal relations director Alain Parise said the oil would be processed in refineries on the east coast.
"This would replace imports with Canadian products," he said.
Given that the 4,400 kilometre line would cross thousands of waterways, Mayor Keith Hobbs asked what steps are being taken to preserve watersheds. Parise said there are emergency responses in place along with a 24-hour-a-day control centre with remote control valves. But it's still early days for specifics.
"The process will help define all of that," he said.
"The goal is avoidance but we also have to plan for something if it happened."
Parise added that given the amount of volume and distance involved, pipelines are proven to be much safer than rail or trucks.
With a proposed pump station every 60 kilometres along the line, Coun. Iain Angus asked if the company knew what its energy needs would be in Northwestern Ontario. Parise said TransCanada is well aware of the ongoing energy discussions in the region. There are several options at this point including generating their own power he said.
TransCanada is hosting an open house Sept. 24 at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium.
