TransCanada Pipeline Officials Visit To Make Their Point

Only a week after the presidential veto, TransCanada officials made their rounds talking with local officials and groups in town. Bud Anderson, an employee of Western Energy Planning who is an independent contractor for TransCanada, met with the city council on Monday, March 2.

He updated the city council that that the lawsuit in Nebraska allowed TransCanada to obtain the remaining land needed in Nebrask for the pipeline, and that they currently have over 80 percent of the land for the pipeline there, and 100 percent of the land in Montana and South Dakota.

He said that two weeks ago that same individual involved with the lawsuit filed another lawsuit stating that a foreign company has no authority on eminent domain. Anderson stated that TransCanada has agreed to wait until the courts rule in Nebraska before construction takes place. He added that they were confident the law would rule in their favor.

He told the council that they would be moving up to 100,000 barrels per day of Bakken oil through the pipeline. Even with the veto they're looking towards continuing to get approval for the project that has become highly politicized. He said that they are working on their fifth environmental impact statement (EIS) and they were just waiting on responses from the government. Anderson added that all EIS reports have pointed out that it is the safest mode of transportation for the oil and will release less greenhouse gases compared to moving oil on railways and by truck.

“We're going to continue as we have, we are looking at the alternatives like trucking and railroads,” Anderson said at the city council meeting.

After catching the city council up, there was a period of time the council asked questions. Mayor Becky Erickson stated that law enforcement was a concern with workforce camps being set up in the county, with up to 3,000 people being added to the area temporarily. She said she hoped to continue that discussion.

Anderson said that Glasgow was the biggest municipality along the route in Montana and he explained that the housing camp wouldn't be set up like those in the Bakken. They would be manned, and TransCanada would be moving structures out once they finished construction. He said the biggest impacts seen would probably be on the grocery stories, the restaurants, the bars and maybe the movie house.

He said that they would have a physician's assistant on staff 24/7, as well as their own security. The camps would be surrounded by a gate and only workers would be allowed in and out. He said that impact would probably come with fire response and that they might look at some community investments. He said they contributed to Circle for a pumper truck. He said they also had a law enforcement agreement with the county for one or two deputies at their expense. Anderson stated that they hadn't worked with the city yet on law enforcement, but once the permit was finally approved some of those final discussions would take place.

Erickson added that communication could be very important with TransCanada as 2,400 additional residents could be a scary thing for some of the locals. Glasgow Police Officer Brien Gault wanted to know what the company policy and tolerance were for problems. Anderson responded it was a zero tolerance policy. Erickson asked about the number of vehicles that might be added to the road during that time. Anderson said that at its peak, maybe 1,200 additional vehicles could be around, but the workers would get to and from sites by bus. Some of the welders could have their own vehicles to get to and from the work site with their equipment.

No other questions came for Anderson at the city council meeting, but he also met with Two Rivers Economic Growth on Tuesday, March 3, to update the group on activities. He explained a lot of the same details to the organization, but added that they would be working underneath the Yellowstone, Missouri and Milk rivers. His focus at that meeting was that TransCanada was looking at community investment projects and talked about some of the projects they had contributed too, including fair grounds in Circle and Baker, as well as firetrucks in Circle and Baker.

He also brought up that some of the Bakken oil was more volatile than heavier crude oil, so they had concerns about transporting the oil by railways. Anderson wrapped up that meeting by discussing who the board could later contact for possible future grants.

His last round was to see the Valley County Commissioners on Wednesday, March 4. That meeting did not take place before press time.