Trans Mountain facing intense deadline pressure to finish pipeline on time: Documents

New documents suggest the Crown corporation behind the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is worried it won't complete the project on schedulein spite of internal and external pressure to do so.

In a letter to the Canada Energy Regulator dated Aug. 28, a First Nation in B.C. details a meeting with Trans Mountain executives that reveals the extent of the deadline pressure facing the corporation.

The Stk'emlupsemc te Secwepemc Nation opposes Trans Mountain's recent request for approval to modify the pipeline route and construction method through its traditional territory.

The First Nation says Trans Mountain CEO Dawn Farrell told its leadership in July that the corporation needs the pipeline to be in service by Jan. 1, 2024, and that the deadline is threatened if it uses the originally proposed route and construction method.

The filing states Farrell acknowledged construction delays aren't the concern of the First Nation, but that Trans Mountain is obligated to meet the pipeline startup date expected by its board and by oil shippers.

The pipeline is owned by the federal government, which bought it in 2018 after previous owner Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. threatened to scrap the pipeline's planned expansion project in the face of environmentalist opposition and regulatory delays.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2023.