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Air Quality
Our Impacts
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 continue to replace 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.
Our Performance
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 to state regulators VOC emissions for liquids pipeline
terminals; and NOX, SO2, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide emissions for our natural gas system.
Managing Emissions from Gas Plants
U.S. Gas Transportation operates 12 gas processing plants, seven gas treating plants and nine 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 opened in 2004 in Wayne County, Mississippi, cut sulphur
dioxide emissions by about 276 tonnes in 2006, compared with a traditional treating plant. The facility
also injected 1,470 tonnes of carbon dioxide that would have otherwise been released to the atmosphere.
We opened 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.
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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 90 per cent of Enbridge’s eligible fleet is made up of low-emission natural gas vehicles. We also operate two natural gas van pools for employees living east and north of Toronto. 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.
Through the use of NGVs, Enbridge Gas Distribution reduced its environmental footprint for vehicle emissions in 2006 by 7,852 tonnes of greenhouse gases (CO2).
In 2006, the Enbridge NGV Business Development group was responsible for technical achievements in three projects that reduced emissions and improved customer service:
- We provided emergency standby power for apartment buildings by installing vehicle refueling appliances as the backup energy source, displacing diesel generator emissions.
- Working with our engineering department, the NGV group designed and built a portable temporary service cylinder to provide uninterrupted gas flow to customers while gas mains are repaired or retrofitted, thereby increasing customer service.
- When Enbridge Engineering required the draining of a 36” pipeline at our Parkway gate station, they called upon the NGV group to provide and install a natural gas compressor. In 18 hours, approximately 6,800 cubic metres of natural gas was diverted into an adjacent pipeline. This procedure not only recovered the commodity cost, but also reduced our vented emissions by about two per cent. This demonstrates that there are opportunities within the organization for securing internal emission reductions from our own operations.
Enbridge continues to work with stakeholders through the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance and with all levels of government to develop and implement a longer-term national strategy for alternative fuels that should lead to a sustainable NGV industry.
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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 North Toronto, Vaughan (SCNTV), an Ontario-based initiative to reduce traffic congestion and take action on climate change through transportation efficiency, Enbridge Gas Distribution is working to reduce traffic congestion and employee commuting times to our Victoria Park Centre office in Toronto. In 2006, we successfully launched two employee natural gas-powered vanpools. Each van carries nine Enbridge employees to our office, one traveling from Barrie, north of Toronto, and the other traveling east from Durham Region. The Barrie vanpool alone is estimated to be eliminating one million kilometres in employee travel each year. In addition to the air quality benefits of removing 16 single-occupant vehicles from Toronto roads, there are employee benefits of lower costs and less stress. Enbridge also benefits from improved employee productivity and the freeing up of 16 parking spaces in a lot that is already at capacity.
Working with SCNTV, Enbridge Gas Distribution hosted an alternative commuting event in September 2006 called “Unlock Gridlock”. This transportation fair was held in our executive parking lot and included exhibits on ride sharing, vanpooling, teleworking and public transit. There was even a Segway® personal transportation device that people could take for a spin around the parking lot. Ontario provincial government cabinet minister David Caplan and Toronto city councillor Shelley Carroll addressed the crowd made up of Enbridge employees and people from neighbouring businesses.
Our United States Gas Transportation 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 2006 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.
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Air quality monitoring in Athabasca
To proactively address air quality issues in Alberta’s Athabasca region, Liquids Pipelines took steps in 2006 to implement an air quality monitoring program at our Athabasca terminal. We will initiate the program in the spring of 2007.
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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 2006, natural gas consumed by the Inuvik Gas project, including gas delivered to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation, displaced about 15.2 million litres of diesel oil, the equivalent of 380 tractor-trailer loads. By providing a cleaner burning energy source, the project is also benefiting the environment by avoiding the emission of more than 13.32 kilotonnes (kt) of carbon dioxide (CO2).
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