The on-again-off-again Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is on again, after regulators said the company has ‘corrected’ issues related to a Lower Mainland bog that houses possibly a rare, but undetermined amphibian habitat.In other words, the usual suspects...frogs, toads, salamanders. The Left Coast is known to be home to a few, including the rare Pacific Giant Salamander that can grow to be a metre in size."Trans Mountain has received a notice to resume work from the Canada Energy Regulator (CER). Trans Mountain corrected all non-compliances in the region and is conducting safety inspections of all active sites to prevent any re-occurrence," it said in a statement.In addition, it was found guilty of “unapproved vegetation clearance” along the right of way.It comes after the CER earlier this month slapped the company with an enforcement order related to about 800 metres of wetlands near the terminus in Abbotsford. Trans Mountain had apparently failed to install prerequisite fencing along sensitive salamander breeding grounds.“Trans Mountain is working hard to correct all non-compliances and to prevent reoccurrence,” the company said, adding it “will seek to have the restrictions under the order lifted as soon as appropriate and according to the law.”.Under the order, the company was required to repair said fences and file a report telling why it was wrong. Which it did. It comes after the company was forced to shut down construction for four months in 2021 to protect hummingbirds along a one-km stretch of the line, also in Lower BC. By contrast, this took ten days.Work to finish a 1.3-km section around a sacred native ‘prayer tree’ near Kamloops continues unimpeded, according to filings.Back in Calgary, horses are chomping at the bit to get the expansion completed by the first quarter of next year. Canadian light/heavy oil differentials are piling up in anticipation of filling the 1,150-km conduit to the West Coast ahead of commissioning first shipments from Canadian shores..As of Wednesday, Canadian crude was selling for about USD$21 a barrel less than its West Texas counterpart — at $76.65 — partly due to the delays in filling the four million or so barrels needed to pack TMX.Despite the pause, it’s sure to be a transitional moment when TMX finally comes on stream. That’s because the additional 590,000 barrels per day of additional capacity will provide a welcome spigot for land-locked oil producers seeking world prices for their barrels.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government bought the troubled pipeline in 2018 to ensure that happens for about CAD$4.5 billion. However, the cost has more than quadrupled since then to $30.9 billion.
