Little Smith Creek efforts prove a big success

Maintenance project in the Northwest Territories completed safely, on schedule and with significant Indigenous inclusion

The technical record will show that Enbridge’s Little Smith Creek Maintenance Project was completed on March 4, 2021 and required installation of a new, 515-metre (1,690-feet) segment of 12-inch-diameter pipe by Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) along with removal of the old pipe segment on Line 21.

On paper, it might appear to have been a rather routine pipeline maintenance job – like many Enbridge projects, it was anything but.

From logistical challenges, including addressing local COVID-19 concerns among a local and non-resident workforce, to extreme cold-weather conditions and a tight timeline, Little Smith Creek was a big undertaking.

“I’m very proud our team was able to execute this project safely and on schedule, with a high level of Indigenous inclusion,” says Wesley Hardisty, Manager, Area Operations. “The support and cooperation of the communities in the Sahtu region was a key factor in our success and, as a result, we were able to complete the segment replacement and return Line 21 to service by the first week of March.”

Perhaps the most unique aspect of the project is its geographic location, near the Northwest Territories’ Hamlet of Tulita, 4,430 kilometres (2,759 miles) north of Houston.

Extreme cold presented challenges

Line 21 was built in 1985 to bring up to 50,000 barrels per day of crude from Imperial Oil’s Norman Wells processing facility 870 km (540 miles) south to Zama City (pop. 74), in the top northwest corner of Alberta. From there, the oil enters a third-party pipeline system for transport to Edmonton.

Planning for the Little Smith Creek project began three years ago, when engineering assessments determined that preventative maintenance was required due to continued slope movement gradually encroaching on a section of Line 21 that runs parallel to the creek.

Replacing a section of pipe on Enbridge’s northernmost pipeline must be completed when the ground is frozen, to utilize winter ice roads to move construction equipment in and out of the area (the worksite and Hamlet of Tulita are only accessible by winter roads or air), and to ensure minimal environmental impact.

In a region where January high temperatures average -22 Celsius, there are no worries about the ground thawing. However, the bitter cold did on occasion cause pipes in the camp to freeze, generators to quit, and metal pieces to break on various pieces of equipment.

For this project, the local Indigenous workforce, including Tulita-based contractor MYB Construction, were able to drive to the worksite on winter roads. Some essential services, such as the Horizontal Directional Drilling rig, also made the journey by road from Alberta. Non-resident workers flew to Yellowknife, quarantined for 14 days to meet COVID-19 health restrictions, and then arrived at camp by private charter. Fortunately, the original construction airstrip (unused in decades) was able to be reactivated for the project.

Stringent procedures prevented COVID-19

The first workers began quarantine in late December, with the project then kicking off in mid-January. At peak, the workforce consisted of more than 90 workers, many of whom were local Sahtu Dene and Métis people.

Concerns about the potential spread of COVID-19 added to the usual logistical challenges of working in a remote area.

“There were a lot of discussions leading up to the work,” says Jay Brown, Senior Advisor, Community and Indigenous Engagement. “Enbridge and local community representatives openly dialogued on the changing environment around COVID-19. We developed a mitigation plan and shared it with community representatives. They came back to us with additional requests to make the mitigations more stringent, and ultimately we were able to meet these requests to minimize the risk of transmission to as low as possible.”

Adds Hardisty: “Ensuring the safety of Northwest Territories residents was paramount. A number of Enbridge groups, led by the Safety and Reliability team, came together to develop a multi-layered protection system and it proved to be very successful.”

No incidence of COVID-19 occurred during project construction, which was also injury-free.

“By working together with a focus on safety, we are proud to have completed construction with zero injuries,” says Robert Gagnon, Project Manager. “The project crews really came together and went above and beyond—cleaning up the riverbank in areas outside of the direct project area, delivering 26 dump truck loads of wood to Tulita and Norman Wells, maintaining the winter roads, and much more.”

A collaborative approach

A major reason for this success was the establishment of a project committee between Enbridge and the Tulita District Benefits Corporation which ensured consistent and timely communication with the community and a collaborative approach to addressing issues, Brown explains.

With the camp now demobilized and all equipment removed from the site, the committee remains active through final cleanup and post-construction environmental monitoring, which will occur over the next two years and involve local monitors in any remediation activity.