Pipeline will skirt Ajax tailings pond

By MEL ROTHENBURGER

NEWS/ AJAX — Kinder Morgan will apply for National Energy Board approval within the next couple of months to re-route its Trans Mountain pipeline around the new proposed location of the Ajax copper mine’s 600-ha. tailings pond.

According to an unverified map obtained by The Armchair Mayor News, the new route tentatively takes a jog north of Jacko Lake and then heads south on Sugarloaf Ranch property — owned by mine proponent KGHM International — coming close to Lac le Jeune Road before cutting east through Crown land and rejoining the existing pipeline on land recently purchased from the Little Ranch.

While the changes will be necessary only if Ajax is approved, a company spokesperson told A.M. News that Kinder Morgan wants to co-ordinate the move with its $5.4-billion plan to twin the pipeline. The application for that was put in front of the NEB in December.

“The goal would be to have the processes line up, to get them both on track at the same time,” said media relations consultant Ali Hounsell. A.M. News has not confirmed if the map is the newest version of the detour and she cautioned that the final route might be altered by the time the application is made.

Kinder Morgan and KGHM International have been in talks over the pipeline’s route since the announcement of a redesigned footprint for Ajax in late May.

KGHM International had no comment this week on details of those discussions except to say they were continuing. “We are working with Kinder Morgan,” said spokesperson Robin Bartlett. “We have a really strong relationship with them.”

Kinder Morgan had already planned to move a smaller section of the pipeline to take it around the west end of Jacko Lake in order to avoid a tight squeeze between the lake’s east end and the open pit, but the new tailings pond plan would require a much longer diversion. The map indicates the detour would also begin further north of Jacko than originally planned.

The existing pipeline runs through ranchland that will be under the tailings pond if the mine is approved. The proposed new route takes it around the pond.

Cost would be split between Kinder Morgan and KGHM International because of the pipeline twinning, said Hounsell. Kinder Morgan would pay the equivalent of installing a second pipe, while KGHM International would pay the equivalent of moving the existing one, but they would both be built in a single new right of way.

“It will end up most likely a shared cost.”

Hounsell had no estimates of that cost. Another question is the timing of construction and whether it would delay either Kinder Morgan’s expansion plans or the Ajax project. Rerouting the pipeline around the tailings pond would require engineering, geotechnical and environmental reports. The NEB may require a public comment period.

However, Hounsell said getting NEB approval to move part of the existing line is a simpler process than for the expansion.

“That’s not an unusual thing. It’s something that’s not uncommon.”

The National Energy Board said this week it will put off its final recommendation on the pipeline expansion about seven months because of other route changes proposed by Kinder Morgan, including one that involves tunnelling through Burnaby Mountain at the Coast.

It has asked Kinder Morgan to provide more information on the route change. That will put off the deadline for the NEB’s report from July 2 next year to Jan. 25, 2016.

The Trans Mountain pipeline carries petroleum products 1,150 km. between Edmonton and Vancouver. The expansion would increase its capacity from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000.