It is critically important for us that we protect and conserve environmentally sensitive areas and areas of high biodiversity, and that we prioritize these activities in our project planning, construction and operations.Our approach includes working with local and Indigenous communities and other stakeholders, as well as investing in projects and initiatives that promote environmental values and priorities that are important to and create benefits for the communities in which we operate.
We implement a variety of activities to preserve biodiversity. Some of these are related to regulatory requirements and others are voluntary. Before proposing pipeline routes and determining facility locations, we:
During facility and pipeline construction, we take care to limit our operational footprint and actively manage potential effects on the environment through a variety of measures, including:
Once pipelines and facilities are in place, we work to maintain the pipeline right-of-way in a manner that balances safety requirements and environmental sensitivities.
Land Stewardship: We have robust operating practices that go beyond the construction phase of our projects. We mitigate our impact by restoring pipeline rights-of-way and implementing the recommendations included in our impact assessments and made by permitting agencies. For example, we:
When managing vegetation at our facilities and on our pipeline rights-of-way, we use the most appropriate methods of keeping them clear for pipeline integrity and safety inspections. We design our weed control and revegetation activities to minimize the encroachment of invasive species, mitigate erosion issues and enhance biodiversity. In conducting this work, we take into account the visible results and perceived impacts on landowners and communities.
Our Canadian Gas Transmission and Midstream group is currently classifying all watercourses along its transmission system in British Columbia covering a vast area—from Fort Nelson in the northeastern corner of the province all the way to Abbotsford in the southwest near the Canada-U.S. border.
The project includes the assessment of thousands of sites and involves working in tandem with our capital projects, operations and maintenance groups. We are implementing assessment efforts in areas where we are forecasting pipeline activity in the near future so that watercourse information is available to facilitate environmental permitting processes. We are integrating the data into existing and planned geographical information systems and making the data available to operations groups, environmental specialists, community advisors and emergency planners.
The project is currently entering its third year, and we expect the entire assessment will take a number of additional years to complete. Once gathered, the data will remain accurate indefinitely in the absence of channel-altering flood events.
For two Enbridge expansion projects in northern British Columbia, we are training construction crews on how to work without disturbing a threatened Northern Mountain Caribou herd.
We are building our Wyndwood Expansion and High Pine Expansion natural gas pipeline projects in an area that these caribou pass through on their way from high to low elevation. A critical time window for the herd is January 15 to July 15. Female caribou are pregnant during this time period and are sensitive to disturbances and predators. To be able to build during this time, Enbridge has taken a number of steps to mitigate any disturbances to the herd.
About 1,000 contractors on these two projects have undergone caribou training. Part of this training focuses on what to do if a caribou comes onto a construction site: stop vehicles and equipment, dim or turn off the lights and remain stopped until the caribou are out of sight. Workers cannot scare the caribou off the road or project site, and must provide details of caribou sightings.
The construction projects also have two full-time caribou monitors from the Saulteau First Nations and West Moberly First Nations. The monitors examine the areas around the projects for caribou tracks and other signs, and they ensure that any wildlife trails along the projects’ footprints remain open and accessible for all animals to use.
“Caribou are a federally protected species in Canada and have a Species Recovery Strategy to ensure their recovery and long-term survival,” said Kyle Harrison, who works on Enbridge’s project execution environmental team and who developed the caribou training program for the two projects.
The population of this particular caribou herd—called the Klinse-za or Moberly herd—has dwindled rapidly over the last 20 years, from 198 in 1995 to a low of 16 in 2013, but by 2017 had grown to 65. Caribou herds are declining for a number of reasons, including loss of habitat and an increase in predators, primarily wolves.
Besides the training and monitoring, Enbridge also supports a maternal penning program for the Moberly herd. During birthing season, about 10 to 15 pregnant cows are rounded up and kept in a pen until their calves are about six weeks old. The pen protects the mothers and calves from predators when they are most vulnerable. The goal of the project is to stop the decline of the herd and save it from extinction.
As part of our commitment to biodiversity and the environment, Enbridge is a member with the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC), and we now have three sites that have earned Conservation Certification under WHC’s certification program.
Enbridge and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline earned the WHC certification for the New England Cottontail Habitat Enhancement Project at the Eliot Compressor Station in York County, Maine. The Cottontail Project is a collaborative effort between Enbridge, TRC Environmental, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to improve and restore habitats for the declining New England cottontail rabbit population. In 2009, New England cottontails, an endangered species in Maine, were detected within a half-mile of the property. The wildlife team concluded that New England cottontails could use the property if they improved the habitat.
Habitat improvement efforts include cutting selected trees to encourage dense thicket vegetation, creating brush piles to provide cover for wildlife, controlling invasive vegetation and volunteer planting of 575 native shrubs. The cover that these shrubs provide is extremely important to New England cottontails as both protection from predators and preferred winter food sources.
Besides enhancing biodiversity, the wildlife team fostered teamwork and interaction with the community. Also, through educational brochures, news releases and communication within the company, the team educated employees and the public on topics including New England cottontails, wildlife habitats and wildlife species decline.
Another Enbridge WHC certified project is located along approximately 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers) of the Big Sandy natural gas pipeline right-of-way (ROW) within the Yatesville Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Lawrence County, Kentucky. In 2007, a previous owner of the Big Sandy Pipeline made a voluntary agreement with Yatesville Lake WMA managers to establish trees and shrubs on the edges of the ROW. Since acquiring the pipeline in 2011, we have continued these conservation efforts by partnering with the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources. The project is aimed at incorporating the needs of local wildlife species into overall ROW management plans, which will lead to greater biodiversity and inspire additional sustainable conservation-oriented projects. This has been accomplished through the use of wildlife beneficial seed mixes, tree and shrub plantings, and placement of nest boxes and bat boxes. The use of native plant species provides essential habitat and food sources for native fauna. With the establishment of a healthy population of native flora and fauna, the site also will be less susceptible to threats of invasive species.
In March 2013, Spectra Energy acquired an existing WHC-certified project site with the purchase of the Express-Platte pipeline system. The site, which is located approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Medicine Hat, Alberta on the north slope of the South Saskatchewan River Valley, includes three enhancement WHC-certified projects rolled into one: a prairie wildlife observation program; an integrated weed/invasive plant management program; and a rattlesnake hibernaculum construction and monitoring program. The Rattlesnake Habitat Enhancement Project recently went through its third re-certification through the WHC Conservation Certification program, and in 2017, the Express Rattlesnake Hibernaculum was nominated for the “Reptiles and Amphibians Project Award” at the annual WHC Conservation Conference. Meanwhile, through the ongoing wildlife observation program, we are continuing to identify and monitor prairie species populations in the area. Semi-annually, a biologist and an Enbridge EHS coordinator visit the site to identify and eliminate any invasive plant species and document the restoration process for the disturbed area. To date, three rattlesnakes have been seen around the area and snakeskin has been located near the entrances and exits of the hibernaculum. This is a promising sign that the project is helping to restore the declining rattlesnake population in southern Alberta.
In British Columbia since 2012, we have been a financial supporter of the Klinse-Za maternal penning project for the Moberly caribou herd. In its initial year, the project had 24 caribou and in 2017 the population had grown to 65. The program is organized by West Moberly First Nations and the Saulteau First Nations communities.
Brucedale Conservation – Enbridge made a five-year, $100,000 investment to support removal of invasive phragmites plants
Lower Thames Valley – Union Gas supported the development of the Walter Devereux Conservation Area into a 32-hectar (80 acres) farm –demonstration
Ontario’s St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences has ‘reconnected the community with the river’
NEXUS Gas Transmission hosted Michigan day campers for a National Pollinator Week event
Valley Crossing Pipeline and King Ranch teamed up to support Texas A&M-Kingsville’s monarch butterfly habitat project