Project Background

Nova Gas Transmission Ltd (NGTL), a subsidiary of TC Energy, plans to construct and operate the North Corridor Expansion Project, which involves approximately 81 km of new pipeline, to be constructed in three sections, and associated facilities in northwestern Alberta. Components include:

• North Central Corridor Loop (North Star Section 2) – approximately 24 km of 48-inch diameter pipe

• North Central Corridor Loop (Red Earth Section 3) – approximately 32 km of 48-inch diameter pipe
• Northwest Mainline Loop No. 2 (Bear Canyon North Extension) – approximately 25 km of 36-inch diameter pipe
• Hidden Lake North Compressor Station 30 MW unit addition, with connectivity piping and related components
• mainline valve sites and associated piping
• launcher and receiver facilities for cleaning and in-line inspection, and a cathodic protection system, and
• miscellaneous works, such as pipeline warning signs and aerial markers.

In addition, during construction some temporary infrastructure, such as access roads, borrow pits/dugouts, slurry pits, stockpile sites, laydown yards, contractor yards and construction camps, will be required.

Project construction is expected to occur in the third and fourth quarter of 2022, with completion and in-service anticipated in the second quarter of 2023.

These new pipeline sections and facilities will be integrated into TC Energy’s NGTL System, a pipeline system of more than 24,000 km in Alberta and British Columbia. This Project will expand pipeline capacity to handle gathering and transporting sweet natural gas from the Peace River Project Area to areas in eastern and northeastern Alberta.

Project Map

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Filing and Hearing

NGTL filed its Project Application [Filing A98641]  with the National Energy Board (NEB) on April 4, 2019. The NEB issued its Notice of Public Hearing on May 31, 2019 [Filing A99730], and Hearing Order on August 26, 2019 [Folder 3817833]. The letter accompanying the Hearing Order also noted the NEB transition to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) and that the application review would continue under the CER. During the CER’s review of the project, all evidence, letters of comment, decisions and other relevant documents were filed and placed on the online document repository [Folder 3760383]. All of these documents are accessible by the public.

Recommendation Report and Approval

Pursuant to Section 29 of CEAA 2012 and Section 52 of the NEB Act, the Commission submitted its Recommendation Report [Filing C08154-1] on the Project to the Minister of Natural Resources on September 3, 2020. The report provided the recommendation to the Governor-in-Council along with the Commission’s decisions and reasons and 34 conditions that would apply to the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and a Section 58 Order.

On April 30, 2021, the Governor-in-Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Natural Resources, issued Order-in-Council (OIC) No. P. C. 202-1362 directing the Commission of the CER to issue a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the Northern Corridor Expansion Project [Folder 4090625]. The OIC also added three conditions and modified four conditions recommended by the Commission of the CER in its report. One of the added conditions required NGTL to provide funding, on request, to Indigenous peoples to support their review of NGTL’s condition filings. The other two new conditions and modifications pertained to caribou and caribou habitat management. The Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (GC-131) [Document C12987-3] issued on May 7, 20121 contained 37 conditions and the modifications as set out in the OIC.

As the amendments and new conditions identified by the Governor-in-Council are specific to the Certificate, and not the Section 58 Order, the Commission recognized that the new condition regarding funding support for Indigenous peoples to review condition filings was also applicable to the Section 58 Order. Therefore on May 18, 2021, the Commission issued a letter proposing an amendment to Section 58 Order XG-021-2020 [Filing C13163] to include a similar condition regarding funding support for Indigenous peoples.

Date modified:

2022-04-21