On April 12, 2018 members of the Bargaining Council were invited to a meeting with representatives of Kinder Morgan to discuss the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project and related work in Burnaby and Sumas. Kinder Morgan has chosen Kiewit-Ledcor TMEP Partnership as their EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contractor. This project like many others we see today is touted to be an open managed site, very similar to Site C where Union, non-union or alternative unions work on the same job site. The meeting was primarily held as an information meeting with Kinder Morgan wanting the Building Trades to know that there would be an opportunity for Union contractors to bid on all available work and that several packages have already been let to Union contractors.
Of interest to the Boilermakers is the two tank farms. Kinder Morgan reported that they intend to build a total of fifteen tanks and demo one of the older existing tanks. Fourteen of the fifteen tanks are to be built on Burnaby Mountain, the other on Sumas Mountain. The tanks were described as 150 feet plus in diameter with a total storage capacity of about 5.5 million barrels of oil.
As you probably know by now, Kinder Morgan has put a halt to all non-essential work on the project. A deadline of May 31, 2018 has been set for the British Columbia government to guarantee that work can proceed unabated.
We will keep you updated as more information comes available.