TMX pipeline route at Pipsell. The section in red represents the deviation approved by the Canada Energy Regulator Monday (Sept. 25) (Image Credit: Canada Energy Regulator)

By James Peters

Trans Mountain Expansion

Regulator approves TMX request to revise pipeline route, trench at Pipsell near Kamloops

Sep 25, 2023 | 2:20 PM

CALGARY — Over the objections of local First Nations, the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) has approved Trans Mountain’s (TMX) request to open trench in the Pipsell area south of Kamloops.

TMX is nearly finished its multi-billion-dollar expansion project, which twins the pipeline that brings oil and oil products from the Edmonton area to port in the Lower Mainland. One of the last remaining segments is Pipsell (Jacko Lake), just south of Kamloops.

Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwépemc Nation (SSN), representing several Kamloops-area Indigenous communities, cited the Pipsell area’s deep spiritual and cultural significance in opposing the KGHM-Ajax project. The provincial and federal governments denied the KGHM-Ajax project’s environmental certification in 2017.

Consultation between SSN and TMX about planned work at Pipsell dates back to 2019.

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In 2022, SSN and TMX agreed that the federally-owned pipeline company could micro-tunnel for about 4.2 kilometres through Pipsell, using a deviation from its originally-planned route.

But the project encountered technical problems and earlier this year, proposed it switch from micro-tunneling back to a combination of horizontal directional drilling and open trenching. It also proposed the project revert to its original route for the 1.3-kilometre section in question.

SSN opposed the proposal, spelling out its opposition at CER Commission hearings in Calgary last week.

The Commission says it will release its reasons for approving the TMX proposal in the coming weeks.