TransCanada pipeline
Encyclopedia
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
pipelines, up to 48 inches (1219 millimetres) in diameter, that carries gas through Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. It is maintained by TransCanada PipeLines, LP
TransCanada PipeLines, LP
TC PipeLines, LP is a publicly traded master limited partnership. TransCanada Corporation owns 24.65% of the outstanding units and controls the general partner...
. It is the longest pipeline in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Creation
Canada's population was booming during the 1950s, and energy shortages were becoming problematic.Canadian company TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. was incorporated in 1951 to undertake the construction of a natural gas pipeline across Canada.
The financing of the project was split 50-50 between American and Canadian interests.
Two applicants originally expressed interest in moving gas east: Canadian Delhi Oil Company (now called TCPL) proposed moving gas to the major cities of eastern Canada by an all-Canadian route, while Western Pipelines wanted to stop at Winnipeg with a branch line south to sell into the midwestern United States. In 1954 C.D. Howe forced the two companies into a shotgun marriage, with the all-Canadian route preferred over its more economical but American-routed competitor.
This imposed solution reflected problems encountered with the construction of the Interprovincial oil pipeline. Despite the speed of its construction, the earlier line caused angry debate in Parliament, with the Opposition arguing that Canadian centres deserved consideration before American customers and that "the main pipeline carrying Canadian oil should be laid in Canadian soil". By constructing its natural gas mainline along an entirely Canadian route, TCPL accommodated nationalist sentiments, solving a political problem for the federal government.
The regulatory process for TCPL proved long and arduous. After rejecting proposals twice, Alberta finally granted its permission to export gas from the province in 1953. At first, the province waited for explorers to prove gas reserves sufficient for its thirty-year needs, intending to only allow exports in excess of those needs. After clearing this hurdle, the federal government virtually compelled TCPL into a merger with Western pipelines. When this reorganized TCPL went before the Federal Power Commission
Federal Power Commission
The Federal Power Commission was an independent commission of the United States government, originally organized on June 23, 1930, with five members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate...
for permission to sell gas into the United States, the Americans greeted it coolly. The FPC proved sceptical of the project's financing and unimpressed with Alberta's reserves.
Politics
The 1,090-kilometre section crossing the Canadian ShieldCanadian Shield
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...
was the most difficult leg of the pipeline. Believing construction costs could make the line uneconomic, private sector sponsors refused to finance this portion of the line. Since the federal government wanted the line laid for nationalistic reasons, the reigning Liberals put a bill before Parliament to create a crown corporation to build and own the Canadian Shield portion of the line, leasing it back to TCPL.
The Louis St. Laurent
Louis St. Laurent
Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....
government aggressively restricted debate on this bill in order to get construction underway by June 1956, knowing that delays beyond that month would postpone the entire project a year. The use of closure created a Parliamentary scandal. Known as the Great Pipeline Debate, this parliamentary episode contributed to the government's defeat at the polls in 1957, ending many years of Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
rule, and bringing in a government under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...
.
The bill was passed and construction of the TransCanada pipeline began.
A stock trading scandal surrounding Northern Ontario Natural Gas
Northern Ontario Natural Gas
Northern Ontario Natural Gas was a natural gas company in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s, which was involved in a stock trading scandal that implicated Supreme Court of Ontario judge Leo Landreville and three members of Premier Leslie Frost's cabinet....
, the contractor for the Northern Ontario leg of the pipeline, also implicated Sudbury mayor Leo Landreville
Leo Landreville
Leo Landreville was a Canadian politician and lawyer, who served as mayor of Sudbury, Ontario in 1955 and 1956 before being appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario as a judge...
and Ontario provincial cabinet ministers Philip Kelly, William Griesinger
William Griesinger
William Griesinger was an Ontario merchant and political figure. He represented Windsor—Sandwich in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1945 to 1959 as a Progressive Conservative member....
and Clare Mapledoram between 1955 and 1958.
Construction
The completion of this project was a spectacular technological achievement. In the first three years of construction (1956–58), workers installed 3,500 kilometres of pipe, stretching from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border to Toronto and Montreal. Gas service to ReginaRegina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
and Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
commenced in 1957 and the line reached the Lakehead
Thunder Bay
-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
before the end of that year.
Building the Canadian Shield leg required continual blasting. For one 320 metres (1,049.9 ft) stretch, the construction crew drilled 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) holes into the rock, three abreast, at 56-centimetre intervals. Dynamite broke up other stretches, 305 metres (1,000.7 ft) at a time.
On October 10, 1958, a final weld completed the line and on October 27, the first Alberta gas entered Toronto. For more than two decades, the Trans-Canada pipeline was the longest in the world. Only in the early 1980s was its length finally exceeded by a Soviet pipeline from Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
to Western Europe.
Incidents
- In late 1957, during a high pressure line test on the section of the line from Winnipeg to Port ArthurPort Arthur, OntarioPort Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Port Arthur was the district seat of Thunder Bay District.- History :...
(today called Thunder BayThunder Bay-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
), about five and a half kilometres of pipeline blew up near DrydenDryden, OntarioDryden is the second-largest city in the Kenora District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada, located on Wabigoon Lake. It is the smallest community in the province of Ontario designated as a city...
. After quick repairs, the line delivered Alberta gas to Port Arthur before the end of the year, making the entire trip on its own wellhead pressure. - On May 30, 1979 an explosion caused evacuations in Englehart, OntarioEnglehart, OntarioEnglehart is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located on the Englehart River in the Timiskaming District.-History:...
, about 200 kilometres north of North Bay, OntarioNorth Bay, OntarioNorth Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:... - On 1 December 2003, a rupture in the pipeline occurred at approximately 53°53′N 117°41′W (120 km south of Grande Prairie, Alberta). 14 hours later, another rupture and fire occurred 15 km downstream from the initial incident. According to TransCanada PipeLines, the breaks were immediately isolated, and any already escaped gas was allowed to burn off.
- On September 13, 2009 a similar explosion to that of 1979 occurred, in Englehart, OntarioEnglehart, OntarioEnglehart is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located on the Englehart River in the Timiskaming District.-History:...
,leaving a 20 feet (6.1 m) hole at the explosion site.
- On February 19, 2011, a pipeline explosion occurred just outside of Beardmore, Ontario, 190 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, OntarioThunder Bay, OntarioThunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario, and the second most populous in Northern Ontario after Greater Sudbury...
.