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LMCI - Site Visits - Landowners - 8 April 2008

8 April 2008
Southern Ontario

NEB Attendees:

Lesley Matthews
Anne-Marie Erickson

Landowners in the Sarnia, Ontario area

 NEB staff spent the day with 2 landowners and 1 landowner association representative, visiting several sites near Sarnia, Ontario where federally regulated pipelines are located.

Key Messages and Observations from Site Visits:

  • Pipeline rights-of-way dissect many pieces of farm land diagonally.
  • Crossing the pipeline with any type of farm equipment is a major issue for farmers and an inconvenience when farmers have to call the company for approval to cross and, in some cases, have been kept waiting for answers.
  • Above ground facilities (i.e., valves) are sometimes located within metres of a road allowance, but on cultivated land. This causes inconvenience to farmers who have to move large pieces of equipment around these above ground facilities.
  • Some above ground installations may be accessed by a lane or road way, which dissects potentially cultivated cropland - this lowers the value of the land for farming, if potentially cultivated land is not kept intact.
  • Installing tile drainage within the right-of-way - pipes can affect drainage - need to accommodate additional drainage, sometimes within the right-of-way, to counter the change created by the pipe.
  • Some of the landowners/farmers in this area are also certified tiling/drainage experts. Could be a source of information on the effect of pipelines on drainage.
  • GAPLO has an integrity dig agreement with Union Gas.
  • Farming equipment has changed significantly since the first pipelines were installed in the 1950s - machinery is larger, heavier.
  • One of the largest pieces of equipment used in this area is a sugar beet harvester. It can weigh up to 60 metric tonnes (3 axles) when fully loaded.
  • Farmers have not received clarity from pipeline companies on what type/size/weight of farm equipment is safe to cross the pipeline. Will the criteria be measures in total tonnage, or pounds of pressure per square inch? Farmers need clarity and certainty about what type of equipment is safe to cross the pipeline.
  • Inefficient cultivation practices result when farmers have to farm around pipelines (if they cannot cross them), or turn around the pipe or above ground installations. At each turn, there is a loss of arable land that could be cultivated for crop.
  • Currently, the class of pipe is based on population density, but does not seem to consider farming land use. Pipe design should consider changes in farming equipment (i.e., heavier equipment), and not just changes in population densities.
  • Regulatory development: farmers don't have the time or interest to be consulted on every NEB regulatory change that could affect them. Members of landowner associations prefer if the NEB could consult the landowner associations, who are working on the landowners' behalf.

 

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Date Modified:
2011-10-28