ENERGY EAST BRINGS JOBS
Signs pact with ABB Group
The National Energy Board is asking TransCanada Corp. to file a consolidated Energy East application that is easier to read and understand.
The NEB sent the request Wednesday, the same day as Energy East president John Soini was in Montreal looking to build support for the pipeline with an equipment deal announcement he said would create 120 direct jobs and 90 indirect jobs in the area.
Soini said the deal with ABB Group to build 22 electrical houses in the Montreal area was “an expression of our commitment to providing economic benefits to Quebec and showing that commitment very early in the project at this point.”
He added that the company would be making further announcements about agreements with local suppliers along the pipeline route in the coming weeks and months.
The NEB asked TransCanada to provide a table of contents to the documents already filed with the regulator, and provide a timeline for when it would file a consolidated application in English and French.
“The board has determined that the structure, format and flow of the application, particularly for those most directly impacted, should be revised and consolidated now, to assist parties as they continue to assess the application, rather than at a later time,” the NEB letter states.
“This is a request for a repackaging of the information already filed in a clear and easy-to-follow format that can also be easily searched and referenced,” it said.
The updated, consolidated application would make it easier for interested parties to participate in the NEB’s review process, which has come under criticism in recent weeks and which Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr has said will be amended for future projects.
TransCanada spokesperson Mark Cooper said the company is working to meet the NEB’s request for a consolidated application, adding that Energy East is a “large project that required a very large application.”
TransCanada’s original Energy East application was 30,000 pages in length, and the company has since filed supplemental reports and an amended project description.
Cooper also said the NEB’s request for a consolidated application likely won’t result in a delayed in-service date for the project, currently planned for 2020.
NEB spokesperson Katherine Murphy said the countdown hasn’t begun on the NEB’s 21-month timeline for making a recommendation on the project because the regulator hasn’t determined whether the Energy East application is complete.
She said that the board still expects to determine the application’s completeness early this year, despite the request for a consolidated application.