Enbridge is beginning construction on a $4 billion expansion of its West Coast Natural Gas pipeline.
The Sunrise Expansion Program will provide up to 300 million cubic feet per day of additional transportation capacity for natural gas in B.C.
Tim Hodgson, the federal minister of Energy and Natural Resources said the project started at a ceremony in Prince George, when the city’s Mayor Simon Yu signed the turquoise pipeline with a marker, alongside Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dolleen Logan and B.C.’s Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon.
“Today we’re turning the page from plans to action,” said Hodgson, adding that it took just three months to break ground after receiving federal approval.
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The expansion will add additional pipeline loops, sections of the pipe added to the existing system to increase its capacity.
Five 42-inch diameter pipeline loops will be installed on the southern portion of the West Coast system, which stretches from southwest of Chetwynd, B.C., to the Canada-U.S. border in the Fraser Valley.
Hodgson says the project will support B.C.’s industrial and manufacturing sectors and ensure natural gas supplies are available as LNG export facilities, including Woodfibre LNG, begin operation.
“That is energy British Columbians can rely on for their homes, their businesses, their schools and their hospitals. It’s also the energy that ensures we never compromise domestic energy security or affordability even as we ramp up our LNG exports off the West Coast as part of our mission to double our non-U.S. trade.”
He says the it will add over $3 billion to Canada’s GDP as the country expands Canadian natural gas exports to Asian markets. It will also create 2,500 jobs, including for local Indigenous communities, and generate $700 million in tax revenue to fund local roads, hospitals, and schools.
Enbridge says 1,300 of the jobs will remain local and over $2.4 million is expected to be paid in municipal property taxes within the Fraser Fort George Regional District each year over a 35-year period.
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The groundbreaking follows Canfor’s recent announcement that it will be permanently closing the Northwood pulp mill, putting roughly 300 people in Prince George out of work.
“This community, the workers that are involved, the unions that are involved, the Indigenous nations that are involved, the governments that are involved and, and supporting this are all making it better for millions of Canadians,” said Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel.
The project will also use domestically produced materials, including 100 per cent Canadian melted and poured steel supplied by InterPro Pipe + Steel from Saskatchewan.
Last year, 38 Indigenous communities in British Columbia acquired a 12.5 per cent ownership interest in Enbridge’s Westcoast natural gas pipeline system, supported by the first-ever federal Indigenous Loan Guarantee.
“Sunrise Expansion Project represents far more than new infrastructure. It reflects what is possible when First Nations are involved,” said Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dolleen Logan.
“We all bring different perspectives, but we share a common goal, creating lasting benefits while respecting the people and the lands that sustain us,” she said.
Ebel says the project will be completed near the end of 2028.
