The MD of Bonnyville council received an update on gas line availability after concerns were raised by developers and ratepayers.
Ron Fox, manager for North East (NE) Gas Co-op Ltd. in Bonnyville, made a presentation during council’s committee meeting on Wednesday, April 3.
As a distribution organizer, NE Gas Co-op administers gas after receiving it from companies including TransCanada Pipeline and AltaGas.
While AltaGas works on upgrading their system, Fox noted it’s causing some problems with the supply for areas such as Lakeside Village, located by Moose Lake.
“We have enough for the customers that we’ve got, but any new subdivisions that come along, we have to talk to AltaGas to get them involved to make sure we have enough gas there and to be able to provide services to that subdivision,” he detailed.
According to Fox, a few areas would only require upgrades in order to have gas lines added, including Macinski and Wood Creek.
One problem he highlighted was surrounding the West 55 Industrial Park, as TransCanada Pipeline said it falls into a restricted delivery area.
While residential lines can be hooked up, commercial customers currently can’t be in locations like West 55 Industrial Park. To allow these groups to be added on, it can be done once an upgrade is complete by 2021, according to Fox.
“We went to AltaGas and asked them if they could supply gas for the industrial park, because we can’t go through TransCanada Pipeline. But, the infrastructure wasn’t really designed around getting the gas from AltaGas,” Fox said, adding the cost would be too high and the suggestion was to wait until TransCanada Pipeline finished their upgrades before moving ahead.
He added, “If the industrial subdivision takes place where I can get at it from the AltaGas source, and they have enough gas to support it, then it’s not an issue at all. There’s just that one (stipulation) if it’s served by TransCanada Pipeline, it has to wait.”
In Haven Hills, a high-pressure pipeline from both TransCanada Pipeline and NE Gas that runs through the development may cause problems.
“There’s nothing preventing development, but it has to avoid those lines... and there’s certain setbacks in... the pipelines regulations act... (that) would have to be observed,” explained Fox.
The MD had requested NE Gas Co-op appear before council after they received comments from developers regarding gas lines. However, in a number of the subdivisions listed there are no issues with the lines, according to Fox.
Caroline Palmer, director of planning and development for the MD, said the municipality had received statements from developers saying they couldn’t build in certain areas.
“At this point, we could just be sending out letters and have developers go back to North East Gas,” Palmer noted.
The list of subdivisions will be sent back to NE Gas so they can review and update the list with the areas able to be developed.
