The first segments of pipe for Coastal GasLink arrived at storage sites in Kitimat and Chetwynd last week in anticipation of construction ramp up later next year. Deliveries to other areas across the project route will continue through April 2021 by vessel, rail or truck, until it’s needed for assembly and installation. That phase of construction is expected to start next summer and continue through to 2022.

Uncertainty and changing expectations in the regulatory process are like ‘poison’ to those looking to invest billions of dollars developing new pipelines and other large-scale infrastructure. And the challenges TransCanada and other companies have faced in recent years will be made worse by changes proposed in Bill C-69.

After the global pandemic was declared in mid-March due to COVID-19, it was a difficult moment when Indigenous Relations team members realized they couldn’t spring into action, load up a truck with supplies and deliver it to the communities they work closely with. The very next day, after we transitioned to work from home, our team members were all talking about how this was going to affect the Indigenous groups we work with. Everyone wanted to immediately reach out to see how they were doing and ask how we could help. Within the first two weeks of the pandemic being declared, the Indigenous Relations team had proactively reached out to all Indigenous groups who live near or along our operations and projects in Canada and the U.S. – more than 200 groups in total.

On May 31, 1940, more than a year before the U.S. entered World War II, Manufacturers Light and Heat Company purchased nine acres of land along Connoquenessing Creek in Ellwood City, Pa., around 40 miles north of its Pittsburgh headquarters.  The plan was to build a 1,000-hp compressor station to support the expansion of two nearby natural gas pipelines. Market demand in the region was growing fast, and the company needed to keep up. As it turned out, the project couldn’t have come at a better time: By the end of 1945, the station’s horsepower had doubled, and a post-war economic boom was on the horizon.