Editor’s note: This letter is in response to the May 7, 2015 letter by André Clement, who raised questions about the safety and economic benefits of the Energy East Pipeline.
For more than 60 years, TransCanada has built and operated pipelines safely.
Today, we operate more than 68,000 kilometres of oil and natural gas pipelines. We are proud of our safety record, and of our commitment to applying industry-leading best practices, from the design of our equipment and the materials we use, to our 24/7 monitoring of pipeline activity by our teams of safety specialists who can detect even the slightest abnormalities and respond immediately.
Canada’s pipeline regulations are among the most stringent in the world. We work to meet or exceed those standards, and with the aim of zero pipeline incidents, as we prepare this project that would bring Western oil to eastern refineries, which currently depend almost entirely on imported foreign oil.
We’re also proud of the thousands of jobs our pipeline projects support in Ontario and across the country. According to the Conference Board of Canada, Energy East’s development and construction will support more than 4,200 direct and indirect jobs in Ontario, and almost 1,400 permanent jobs for Ontarians once the pipeline goes into service.
In addition, almost $1 billion in tax revenues will flow to the municipal and provincial governments of Ontario during the project’s construction phase alone.
Throughout the development of Energy East, we have been reaching out to Ontarians, and all Canadians, to share information about the project.
We welcome the interest Ontarians have shown and will continue our dialogue with communities about all aspects of the project, from pipeline safety to its economic benefits.
Tim Duboyce
TransCanada