Heather Wright/The Independent

Despite pleas from a homeowner to change the route for new pipelines, St. Clair Township council has given its blessing to the refurbishment of Enbridge’s Waubuno station.

Enbridge came to St. Clair Council in October, seeking a letter of support for the project, but council said there were too many unanswered questions.

Nov. 17, the company explained the facility near Oil Springs Line and Telfer Road needs extensive work, including a new pipeline, “to address integrity concerns. 

“The aging compressor was manufactured in 1976 sourcing parts has become extremely difficult in the event of a critical failure,” Enbridge’s Ashley Crites told council.

The company plans to replace the compressor with a 12-inch high-pressure natural gas pipeline and replace the gathering system.

Crites says the company wants to use a road allowance. 

That worries Don Kabbes, who is a neighbour of the facility. He doesn’t like that the high-pressure gas line will be near homes, including his.

“This raises serious safety and long-term land-use concerns for my family and neighbours. My grandchildren and other children often walk and play along this frontage, and the thought of such a high-pressure line being located so close to our homes is deeply unsettling,” he wrote in a letter to council.

“I believe there is a far more practical and lower-impact alternative: a direct route from the compressor station across my farm and the adjoining Lang property, reconnecting with the existing main line further south.”

Kabbes says this would avoid residential properties and provide safer and efficient construction access through open farm land.

He wanted council to delay its decision to study his plan.

But both Enbridge and township officials said using the road allowance is the better option.

“We’re working on detailed construction drawings at this time and we’ve been in discussion with landowners, and we understand that it’s important to maintain drainage throughout the construction process, “ says Enbridge’s Chris Walters.

“We’re working with landowners to come up with a proposal that is not going to impact the drainage to their private farm lands.”

Walters added; “We’ve been in communication with the directly-affected landowners and we’re working with them to mitigate any of their concerns that they have with the temporary land use that we would require on their properties, to make sure that we mitigate any impacts to their to their properties.”

Andrew Malpass, Coordinator of Engineering at St. Clair Township says it is not uncommon to have a gas pipeline in a right-of-way along the road.

“You’re much safer in the road allowance than you are running through a farmer’s field. You’ll have better chance of locating that for construction than you will any construction activity in a field,” he told council.

Council agreed and gave Enbridge a letter of support for the work. 

The work still has to be approved by the Ontario Energy Board.