Coastal Gaslink fined $590K for erosion, sediment control issues

The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) has fined Coastal GasLink (CGL) $590,000 for deficiencies related to erosion and sediment control measures.

Coastal GasLink is a 670-kilometre-long pipeline project spanning northern B.C. that will carry natural gas across the province to the LNG Canada processing and export facility in Kitimat, about 110 kilometres east of Prince Rupert on the province's North Coast.

The regulator announced that CGL, which is owned by Calgary-based TC Energy Corp, received 10 administrative penalties Wednesday. They follow inspections along the pipeline construction route in April and May 2023, according to a Thursday news release.

This is not the first time that the company has been penalized by the EAO over this issue of erosion and sediment control. According to the Thursday statement,CGLreceived four penalties between February 2022 and September 2023 totalling nearly$800,000.

The EAO says the company also faced a $6,000 penalty last September for providing false or misleading information.

"These latest financial penalties reflect the EAO's escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance with EAO requirements," the regulator said Thursday.

CGL said Thursday in a statement that the company took action to correctissues as soon as they were identified, adding that it has been "fully and consistently compliant" since last fall.

The company also says that it is currently focusing on the "clean-up, reclamation and permanent erosion and sediment control installation activities" along the route since it completed construction last year. This current phase is slated to finish this fall, according to CGL's statement.

The EAO has said in its news release that it will continue to monitor this part of the company's project.

Previously, the regulator said it hadperformed almost100 inspections along the pipeline construction route since it started in 2019 that have resulted in 59 warnings and 30 ordersincluding 13 stop-work orders.