CGL two-thirds finished right of way for Kitimat section of pipeline route

Coastal GasLink (CGL) is two-thirds finished clearing the route at the Section 8 point of its project which runs from north of Morice Lake to Kitimat.

In their most recent construction update the company highlighted the progress they’ve made in the eight different sections of the project.

In Section 8 the company continues to focus on right-of-way clearing as well as ongoing preparation at both the 9A and Hunter Creek Lodges.

Locally, road upgrades began earlier this month in the lower portion of Dyke Road, beginning at the Pollution Control Centre. The construction is taking place daily from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is expected to last through to mid-May.

While there are no anticipated road closures required for this construction, the south portion of Dyke Road will be closed to motorized traffic between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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Pipe deliveries are scheduled to continue to the area until mid-2021.

CGL’s vice president of pipeline implementation called the recent scheduled ramp-down of workers from approximately 400 to 130 the conclusion of a successful winter construction season.

“Over the past several months, we have accomplished important milestones including the clearing of more than 72 per cent of the 670-kilometre right-of-way,” said Bierd.

“Most importantly, we achieved all of this safely. Over the winter we saw over four million person-hours of work undertaken on hazardous clearing activities that were completed without serious incidents or injury.”

Bierd added that with spring beginning conditions are inopportune to continue with work. Coupled with a number of sensitive migration stages for wildlife species in the region the company feels now is a good time to give crews a bit of a break.

“We’re going to focus our smaller team of local workers and contractors on critical activities such as environmental monitoring, sediment and erosion control, and site-specific activities including maintenance,” said Bierd.

He added another benefit of the smaller workforce (Kitimat’s Sitka Lodge only housed 16 workers as of this update, which reflects the numbers at the end of March) is that it will allow CGL to focus on health and safety of both its workforce and community in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In other construction news Section 7, which was the site of multiple blockades earlier this year and an RCMP-enforced injunction against an number of counter protestors supporting Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, continues to receive pipe at its storage sites and finish up clearing and grading at the Huckleberry Lodge.