New pipeline route “bundles” with 407 corridor

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

The latest news from TransCanada regarding the Eastern Mainline pipeline route is exactly what councillors were looking for.

In the culmination of a process that has been ongoing since 2013 and has seen Oshawa council butt heads over the route for the natural gas pipeline, TransCanada now plans to run its natural gas pipeline mainly along the Highway 407 corridor.

It is an option councillors have been pushing for for some time, and the one that makes the most sense.

“I think it makes things rather simple for planners and this council and the City of Oshawa to make decisions,” said Councillor John Neal at the latest meeting of the development services committee.

The same was said by Councillor Bob Chapman.

“I believe that this is the best route,” he says.

The line, which is being constructed to address an increased demand for natural gas, will consist of approximately 280 kilometres of additional pipeline running from Markham to Iroquois.

Of significance along the new route, which mostly follows the Highway 407 corridor through Oshawa, is on the eastern section, most of which now avoids the Oak Ridges Moraine.

According to Brian West, the project manager, the moraine is not the only complication in the east end, which also includes access roads and a heritage site currently owned by the Ministry of Transportation.

“There’s a number of things we need to work through in detail,” he says.

TransCanada has now filed a new application with the National Energy Board (NEB), the regulator that will grant final approval for the new pipeline.

However, the process will take time, with the NEB’s public consultation process and review period set to last 21 months from now until March 2018.

According to documents from TransCanada, pending approval, the construction is slated to begin in 2019 with facilities going online in 2020.