environmental performance
Air Quality
Enbridge employees who
commute from Barrie, Ontario
to our Toronto office are trying
out a new way to get to work. It’s called the Employee Van
Pool and currently seven
employees are driving to work together to save costs, reduce
emissions and cut down on stress.
The van, which is fuelled by cleaner-burning natural
gas, costs its passengers about $200 per month each, but
each participant saves about $2,000 per year in fuel and
parking costs.
Here’s how it works. One of the passengers drives the
van each week and this responsibility is rotated among the
employees, who first have to take the company-sponsored
driving evaluation class. The passengers get together to agree
on pick up/drop-off times and locations. The van pool has been
operating for about a year and can take up to nine employees.
“One of the great things about the van pool is not only are
we helping reduce emissions by driving together in a natural
gas vehicle, but we are also saving ourselves some of the stress
of being in traffic,” says van pool coordinator Tim Adamson,
Program Manager for Sustainable Energy. “It’s great to sit
back and do some work or some reading while driving to
work. When you get to the office, you aren’t stressed out from
fighting traffic.”
And by taking their seven cars off the road, these Enbridge
employees are saving about 30 tonnes of smog and greenhouse
gases annually from being emitted.
Lisa Crone, a Human Resources consultant at Enbridge’s
Toronto office, has been riding the van pool since September
2005 and loves the money she saves, and the fact she arrives at
work stress-free.
“It is a much more fun way to get to work,” says Lisa. “And it
just makes sense on so many different levels. Obviously we are
saving money and the wear and tear on our own vehicles, but we
are also helping the environment. It has really been a great
team effort on everyone’s part to make this work.”
The major air emissions released by Enbridge facilities include methane, carbon monoxide,
nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Other contaminants released but
in much smaller quantities include sulphur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen sulphide and particulate matter.
We work to keep emissions to the air from our operations below regulated limits. In some
cases, we have introduced environmentally friendly technologies in our plants that reduce air
contaminant emissions.
On tanks, the largest source of emissions for Liquids Pipelines, we regularly inspect emission
control devices and replace or repair them to ensure they meet regulatory criteria. At our Cushing,
Oklahoma terminal we are replacing several older, high-emission storage tanks with new, low emission
tanks.
In large urban centres, such as the Greater Toronto Area, we also take an active role in promoting
cleaner fuels and vehicles.
Reporting criteria air contaminants
Criteria air contaminants are a group of common air pollutants released from sources, including
incineration, industrial production, fuel combustion and transportation vehicles. We have established
programs setting our roles, responsibilities and timelines for reporting our criteria air contaminant
emissions to various government agencies in Canada and the United States.
In Canada, Enbridge Gas Distribution and Liquids Pipelines track and report annual criteria
air contaminant emissions under the National Pollutant Release Inventory. The air contaminants
covered under the regulation include NOX, SO2, VOCs, carbon monoxide and particulate matter.
In the United States, we track and report criteria air contaminant pollutants from our liquids
pipeline terminals and our natural gas system to state regulators. Under United States regulations,
these emissions cover NOX, SO2, particulate matter, ozone, lead and carbon monoxide.
Managing emissions from gas plants
Our United States Natural Gas Business operates 23 gas processing plants, seven gas treating
plants and five processing and treating plants in Mississippi and Texas. These facilities release various
air emissions, including sulphur dioxide and nitric oxides.
We continually look for opportunities to upgrade our gas facilities and pipelines in ways that
contribute to operating, environmental and safety goals. One example is acid gas injection, which
uses advanced technology to compress acid gas, primarily hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide, and
inject the gases into suitable underground reservoirs, thereby avoiding emissions to the atmosphere.
Our first acid gas injection plant, which is located in Wayne County, Mississippi, and opened in
2004, has cut sulphur dioxide emissions by about 130 tonnes a year, compared with previous plant
levels. We will open our second acid gas injection plant in 2006 in East Texas. When working at full
capacity, this US$8.4 million facility is expected to cut annual emissions of carbon dioxide by about
50,000 tonnes and sulphur dioxide by about 78 tonnes, compared with a traditional gas treating facility.
Promoting markets for cleaner vehicles
For more than 20 years, Enbridge Gas Distribution has been building and supporting the natural
gas-vehicle (NGV) market in Ontario. In addition to encouraging others to use natural gas as a
cost-effective, environmentally friendly transportation fuel, over 80 per cent of our fleet is made up
of low-emission natural gas vehicles and we have introduced a natural gas van pool for employees.
(See sidebar article on this page.) In these and other ways, Enbridge remains a leader in advocating
the use of natural gas-powered vehicles, providing an economical solution to the impacts of vehicle
emissions on urban air quality.
On behalf of the Canadian NGV industry, Enbridge led an initiative in 2005 to expand the
number of vehicle choices available to customers. This was in response to purchasing incentives
offered by the federal government’s climate change program for vehicles meeting United States
Environmental Protection Agency certification, which is one of the highest standards in the world.
The initiative resulted in certification of eight new engine platforms being sold across Canada.
Enbridge continues to work with stakeholders through the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle
Alliance and with all levels of government to develop a longer-term national vision/plan for alternative
fuels that should lead to a sustainable NGV industry. Canada’s new federal government is
re-evaluating all climate change funding and we are hopeful of continued support in 2006.
Encouraging alternate transportation options for employees
We are encouraging our employees to use alternate modes of transportation to get to
work, including public transit, which we view as part of the solution to urban air quality issues.
Every June, Enbridge Gas Distribution participates in Pollution Probe’s Clean Air Commute
program, a week of friendly competition in which employees can win prizes for commuting
in an environmentally friendly manner to work. In 2006, we won the Commuter’s Cup
challenge, in which we competed with Toronto Hydro and Ontario Power Generation in
two categories: percentage of employee participation (Enbridge Gas Distribution achieved
32 per cent); and participation by senior management. Three members of our executive management
team – Glenn Beaumont, Vice President, Engineering; Jane Haberbusch, Director,
Human Resources; and Lino Luison, Vice President,
Opportunity Development – each drove a Honda
Civic GX NGV during the Clean Air Commute week.
Altogether, Enbridge employees prevented 10.5 tonnes
of emissions from entering the atmosphere.
In collaboration with SMART Commute, an
Ontario-based initiative to reduce traffic congestion
and take action on climate change through transportation
efficiency, Enbridge Gas Distribution is working
to help form a Transportation Management Association
in the area of our Victoria Park Centre office in
Toronto. We are also looking at developing more
sustainable ways for employees to get to work,
such as ‘vanpooling’ (see sidebar article on this page),
carpooling, active commuting (walking or cycling)
and telecommuting. With these initiatives, we are
looking for multiple benefits – not only lower vehicle
emissions and cleaner air, but also, for our employees,
lower stress levels, increased healthy physical activity,
reduced personal vehicle costs, and higher morale
and personal engagement.
Our United States Natural Gas Business’s head
office in Houston encourages employees to ride public
transportation to work by covering the cost of their
transit fees. As a result of this program, our Houston
office received a Commuter Award in 2005 from
Houston’s Best Workplaces for Commuters Coalition.
The award, which we have received every year since
2003, recognizes Enbridge as a Houston-area employer
that is committed to reducing traffic and air pollution
and improving the quality of life for commuters.
Natural gas fuel benefits northern air quality
In northern communities such as Inuvik, Northwest Territories, natural gas provides an
environmentally attractive alternative to diesel and heating fuel, decreasing local air emissions
and avoiding oil transportation emissions.
Enbridge has a 33 per cent interest in Inuvik Gas Ltd., the first commercial development
of natural gas in Canada’s Mackenzie Delta. The project began distributing gas to the town of
Inuvik in 1999.
In 2005, natural gas consumed by the Inuvik Gas project, including gas delivered to the
Northwest Territories Power Corporation, displaced about 14.3 million litres of diesel oil, the
equivalent of 360 tractor-trailer loads. By providing a cleaner burning energy source, the project
is also benefiting the environment by avoiding the emission of more than 12.62 kilotonnes (kt)
of carbon dioxide (CO2).
 Top of pageOzone-Depleting Substances
We have eliminated ozone-depleting substances from most of our operations. However, we
do continue to use halocarbon containing equipment (in vehicles, drinking water fountains,
refrigeration, and air conditioning systems), as well as halon-containing equipment (fire extinguishers)
at some facilities.
In 2005, we developed a draft environmental management plan (EMP) addressing ozone-depleting
substances that will be finalized and implemented during 2006 at all our Canadian
operations. The plan will be reviewed every three years and updated as necessary to reflect changes
in applicable legislation. Compliance with the plan will be reviewed on a regular basis through
our environmental review program. This EMP includes a phase-out plan for halon-containing fire
extinguishing equipment. In addition, Enbridge will strive to find alternatives to minimize its use
of other ozone-depleting substances.
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