Background

| Construction

Preparation

Permits

Prior to commencing the project, various local, provincial and also Federal permits are applied for and acquired. These permits address and protect the interests of the general public as well as the environment - land, air, water, vegetation and wildlife.

Acquiring Rights Of Way

The ACTL Project is currently working with landowners along the pipeline route to address special construction concerns, reclamation of the land, compensation and future use of the land.

Environmental Conservation

While preparing for the ACTL construction to begin, precautions are being taken to reduce the amount of waste products produced.

Salvaging Timber

Trees from wooded areas along the pipeline must be removed for construction to proceed. Larger trees will be salvaged. This salvaged timber will either be hauled to local sawmills or set aside at the landowners request as firewood. Woody debris will be either chipped and hauled, burned or mulched.

Mowing Cropland

Mature cereal and hay crops will be mowed prior to topsoil salvage. Standing crops interfere with proper topsoil salvage techniques. The landowner may elect to cut immature crops for green feed.

Conserving Topsoil

Topsoil on the right of way is conserved through a variety of topsoil salvage methods. In addition, a secondary layer of soil called transitional material is also salvaged from the right of way for replacement over spoil material. Gaps are also left in the stored topsoil windrow to allow landowners access across the right of way.

Pipeline Assembly

Stringing Pipe

All of the individual joints of pipe are strung along the right of way after topsoil has been salvaged and slope grading is complete. Some of the pipe joints need to be bent to conform to the terrain.

Welding

The individual joints of pipe are welded together to form a pipe section. All of the welds are visually inspected and x-rayed to ensure that the welds are secure and will not separate.

Coating

The pipe is coated to minimize the risk of corrosion. Each of the welds on the pipeline is also coated to minimize the corrosion risk.

Lowering-In

Individual sections of pipe are lowered into the trench. Each pipe section is approximately 400 to 500 meters long. The sections are then welded together to form a complete pipeline.

Reclaiming Construction Sites

Backfill Shading

Once the pipeline is lowered into the trench and all of the sections have been welded together, the trench is backfilled with the same material that was excavated using much of the original products. The backfill material is loose at this point.

Care is taken to not allow rocks to fall onto the pipe and damage the coating or dent the pipe. The backfilled material is then compacted in order to minimize the potential for trenchline settlement.

Topsoil Replacement

Stored transitional material and topsoil will be replaced once the subsoil surface has been de-compacted, picked of rocks and contoured. Random checks are made with a shovel to ensure that the topsoil is replaced evenly.

Topsoil Cultivation

The replaced topsoil is cultivated to relieve any residual compaction that was created by the reclamation equipment. Any exposed rocks are picked from the surface.

Seeding

Seeding is done on all pasturelands, native and previously wooded areas, and also on some hayland, at the request of the landowner. Seed mixes are tailored to meet landowners specifications and applied only when the probable success of seed germination is high.