The Consultation was originally done and final phases, Waiting on approval.I'm going to point a couple of things re: original TransMountain.
TransMountain did the consultation and then turned it over to the federal gov't to make a decision.
When the Feds, Provincial and Municipal Governments kept adding to the list of requirements then things fell apart.
Then the government swooped in to save the day and voila things were approved that previously were not.
after the added changes or before? This is a very important context of the discussion.What the challange was on in regards to consultation was that the crown was unable to show any evidence it considered the consultation work done
What alternatives, this route needed to go down a specific path to make it viable following existing pipeline right ways.and, when alternatives existed, no decision making process was given to the alternatives.
The alternatives routes along the southern pipeline had already been eliminated previously by both government and industry as not being viable years earlier. To ignore that simple fact is playing games with political agendas.Consultation must be shown to inform a decision and if you have no record of looking at the work done and/or alternative routes proposed...you're wide open for a challange.
The alternatives routes were the northern pipeline proposals.
Only after the government caused issues with allowing this to happen. Funny how First Nations were suing each other over the pipeline delays and routes. Not sure where that all went as things went silent when those in support of the pipelines along the route started to show their support.I will also note there have been other challanges go to the courts where a First Nation(s) were opposed to the project and the project went ahead as the proponent (industry) showed tons of evidence of consulting in good faith and when agreement was not able to be done the Crown determined that a standard had been meet and exceeded.
That is funny, many of the companies I know involved had signed their contracts and were doing preliminary work along the route, a few others were putting infrastructure in the ground prior to the delay. This included buying the equipment they required as part of the contract. Their contracts were take or pay for that portion.At least locally...and the TransMountain pipeline is very local to me...there was limited contracts signed under the original plan and many contractors were disqualified by the federal bidding process.
What the feds did afterwards with assigning the contracts that had already been previously done was silly. Drove costs through the rough. Had a few previous bidders walk away and close their doors.
Only very large contractors were allowed to bid but also had a series of points to gain including FN employment participation and "local" workforce.
Originally that was not the case, it had to be explained to the Federal Government that there was not enough Local skill to make each KM "local" only. They settled with Western as local. Somehow ended up with Eastern Canada groups working here who had no clue how to work the mountains and or swamps.Local according to the federal government was western Canada residence so right off the bat staff housing costs went high vs. local labor forces.
LOL it was much worse when pipe that was ordered had to re ordered due to damage from sitting outside to long exposed due to improper storage procedures. The expert contractor told the government this is how it needs to be done, then the government says we know better our guy says it is ok. The Inspector comes along and says not chance.Construction was god awful disjointed...contractor does this mile...but then skips one...then does two...and skips two....erratic. Spreading the work out as deadlines were long but then because more "route is open"
I had buddy go inspect pipe in a yard that was all disposed of for various reasons, The cost to replace the pipe with new stuff was cheaper then his cost to inspect. They ended up replacing the pipe. Again some person calling shots from the office with no clue adding cost after cost and delay after delay.
I think a few of the get er done work forces realized they did not need to get er done as fast, as things would change the next day what work they did had to be redone at times to appease someone in an office.
LOL, yup lots of ass time so to speak. Many of the backend/ direct front support was similar to this. Move two steps forward 6 backwards. They surveyed the same piece of land multiple times. Looking for changes to suit a person calling shots who never stepped foot on the ground, looking for a alternative route.the monitoring guys loved it...gravy train for 3 years on what most companies do in a couple of months.
Follow the money train, and one has to scratch their head on who made those calls.Add in significant design changes on the federal plan especially in BC to bore more crossings vs. open excavation and costs jumped again...got told boring alone was close to 10% of the project costs under the feds as it was a "greener" approach.
It was previously discussed that the current route was full and no more room for a third or fourth pipeline hence why the northern other southern routes were required. I guess the main contractor has been given the go ahead and the feds will approve their own project without the headaches in the way.End of day it's going to be very interesting to have the twinned TransMountain route + ATCO Yellowhead Mainline parrel (scheduled for this fall) + new pipeline.
Funny how that works
Not the real question how many tens of billions will this one cost?


