Keystone Project In Valley County Back On Track

After a year of delays, the Keystone XL pipeline project is back on schedule in Valley County. Members from a variety of local agencies, including County Commissioners, emergency medical services, Valley County Sheriff’s Office, volunteer firefighters and the Glasgow Chamber, in addition to local business owners and many others, filled the conference room at the Cottonwood Inn on Feb. 25 to listen to a project execution manager, a manager of corporate security and land management to discuss the scope of upcoming work and answer questions.

Project Execution Manager Greg Tencer started off the afternoon providing information on what 2020 is expected to look like for the two pipe yards that will be located in Valley County. He stated construction preparations will start this month and last into early April starting with crews out near Hinsdale, the location of pipe yard two, and near Fort Peck, the location of pipe yard three, to start mowing. “These two [areas] were prepared back in 2018 and haven’t done much with in 2019. In the August timeframe, pipe will start coming into the pipe yards from Glendive,” Tencer explained.

Another area in Hinsdale that hasn’t seen a lot of work since the project was delayed was where the man camps will be located in Hinsdale. “The camp in Hinsdale got started with a lot of the grading work last year before we had to stop,” stated Tencer. Activity around the site will increase around mid-to late-March as office trailers and vehicles will be set up to get prepared for work being done in Phillips County which is expected to start around April 1. Also near Hinsdale is Pump Station 10, which will see power line work starting in May, with the first half of the project starting, and wrapping up the work next year.

Preparations will continue this year, including finishing grading work where the man camps will be as well as grading work near Pump Station 10. “Pump Station 10 will also start getting a bit of grading work as they will need to finish their road as the county road only goes so far and they have to build the remainder of the road up to the pump station site. [We are] planning to build that road this summer,” explained Tencer. Around July the camp contractor will start to install underground utilities and block off the driveways and parking lots in order to get everything ready, even with the possibilities of installing some of the buildings, though Tencer stressed the buildings won’t actually be up this year.

As all of this preparatory work is being done, Tencer estimates 100 people will be around the area doing the various jobs and since none of the camps will be set up, workers “will be using local lodging and local RV sites.” He admits the numbers will be low to begin with, but will increase to 800 people expected to come when the main construction will be underway. “We can take care of them and have as little impact to you as a community as possible but also they are available to come eat at the restaurants at times, they will come get gas, they will buy groceries, they will do those things too, but we will try and make the least amount of impact on the community as we can,” he stated.

After going through the construction plans, Tencer welcomed questions, which included where most of the workers will be coming from, how many local opportunities will be there, if employees will have medical insurance and if the construction crew and camps will purchase local. Tencer stressed the camps will utilize local as much as possible. The camp itself will be run by Target Logistics and a commissary will be set up. “What we try to do is run with the local grocery store to work that commissary,” stated Tencer. He also stressed the workers will want to come into town and utilize local services. “Sometimes [they] just want to go to a restaurant and eat out somewhere or on Sundays they may come in and want to go bowling or go to a movie or something like that to just get away from the camp a little bit,” explained Tencer. “We want to promote things. Another big thing that is local that needs to be provided is tires. Repairs, oil changes, things like that on vehicles. A lot of the workers don’t necessarily drive their vehicles out there but all the inspectors, the surveyor crews, all the foreman, everybody drives their trucks so they have to get them serviced somewhere and that’s usually something they have to do on Sunday or late in the day after they have come in, so there’s a different services like they are needed.”

Tencer also explained the companies working on the project will need laborers, operators, welders, electricians, carpenters, truck drivers, and teamsters and local employment opportunities will be determined by the community and what is available. “Our goal is to work with the local communities and try to bring in as many as we can from here. There’ll be a lot of work going on in 2021, so we want to try and get as many people from here as we can,” stating Tencer.

Manager of Corporate Security Don Greenwood next spoke about precautions will will be put into place for the workers as well as protecting the work sites. He stated all workers on the project will have to go through background checks which will encompass the past five years. Anyone with a violent crime history within the time frame, is determined to be a sex offender and/or has had two to three DUIs will not be allowed to work on the site. Workers will also be drug tested upon hiring and will be subjected to random drug tests during their employment. “If there is any sort of incident or suspicion of drugs they will be subjected to drug testing right away,” stated Greenwood. “If [a worker] gets kicked out for disciplinary action, they won’t leave the job and then go with another contractor to stay on the project. They will be black-balled and be sent home.”

Greenwood also stressed those staying on in the man camps will have a code of conduct they will have to abide by and everyone will be badged. “The camps will have security, everyone will be badged. The only visitors allowed at the camp will be certified and pre-determined family members. They will be photographed and given badges and authorized by the leader of the folks at the camp to ensure those folks are who they say they are,” explained Greenwood.

Off-duty law enforcement will be housed in the hotels in Valley County that will be housing the initial workers and pipe yards and construction workers will also have security. During the height of construction, there will be security guards at the camp site, construction and pipe yards while those on the right-of-way and a response force will be law enforcement certified with the goal being to fill those positions with off-duty law enforcement or retired law enforcement. “We are working with law enforcement to minimize any impact on the community from our workers or anything that would affect the public,” stressed Greenwood. He did stress only the off-duty or retired law enforcement officers will be allowed to carry firearms will security guards will not. There will also not be any firearms on any private property without the permission from the landowner.

The last speaker for the afternoon was Brock Taylor whose primary job is to acquire the land rights necessary to continue building the project. “As we move into construction, my job and our agent’s job becomes more to make sure that all the commitments and restrictions are met as part of the construction process with the contractor,” he explained. After construction work is finished, the next steps are to work with the contractor to reclaim the properties and gather any post-construction items. “Project-wide we have 99 percent land rights in Montana, just have a few things we are working on and 100 percent in Nebraska and South Dakota. We have what we need to get going,” said Greenwood.

The meeting ended with a question asking the three men if the project is going to just forget the lawsuits that are currently pending in the court system regarding the project. “We are still going through the due process but right now we got to keep planning based on what we need to construct. We are going through the process and will see what happens and react from there,” stated Tencer.