Meili calls for pipeline replacement schedule

REGINA NDP Leader Ryan Meili wants to see pipelines expire and be replaced — using Regina-made steel — at a prescribed date.

The province does not have triggers causing engineers to further scrutinize older pipelines.

Meili says the policy released Tuesday would be a “great opportunity to increase employment,” particularly at Regina-based Evraz Steel.

The policy, which the NDP is calling on the province to introduce, would set a “priority schedule for pipelines” and use best practices to determine best-before dates to ensure replacement happens on a regular schedule. Meili said it would consider measures like the age of a pipeline, what is moving through it and where it is located to figure out when they should be replaced.

United Steelworkers Local 5890 president Mike Day flanked Meili during the announcement.

“We agree this would be a great opportunity,” said Day. “Environmentally wise, too, the new steel and specifications are more stringent. Let’s keep it going that way, it works both for environmental and jobs.”

Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre said the plan was “irresponsible,” “irrational” and “ironic” because Meili has previously questioned if pipelines are good for the economy or not.

(Meili, in a January interview with Pipeline News, was speaking about new pipeline approvals when he told that publication the value of new jobs and to the economy need to be considered.)

Eyre said it would cost Saskenergy $50 billion to replace all of its pipelines in the province and questioned how private companies would react to being on “some wild expiry system,” saying the plan would put the province at a “severe competitive disadvantage.”

She said “safety structures are already in place” for pipelines “on a very large scale.”

The province says the age of a pipeline is “not necessarily the best indicator for risk of failure.”

“We do not currently have any triggers that cause our engineers to place additional scrutiny on examining older pipelines. It comes down to a matter of ensuring effective integrity management programs,” a spokesperson from the premier’s office said in a statement.

Eyre said there have been 5,000 pipeline, facility and well inspections already done this year.

The province brought in pipeline regulation changes following the July 20, 2016, Husky oil spill, which saw a 16-inch pipeline leak oil and condensate into the North Saskatchewan River near Maidstone for at least seven hours, before it was shut down for maintenance.

The spill forced downstream communities, including North Battleford and Prince Albert, to establish secondary sources of drinking water, and cost a partly owned Husky subsidiary at least $107 million to clean up.

In March, the provincial and federal government filed 10 charges against Husky Energy Inc.