Rail cars to ship propane from Alberta to Quebec

Alberta-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is shipping propane to Quebec, which is dealing with a fuel shortage.

The company, headquartered in Calgary,is preparing unit trains of up to105 cars at the company's facility in Redwater, northeast of Edmonton, said a release issued late Sunday.

The company "is driven by doing what is right for the country and fellow Canadians," the release said.

A strike by 3,200 CN rail workers, now in its seventh day, has left Quebec shortof propane.

Farmers use propane to heat hog barns and henhouses, as well as to dry grain before storage. The vast majority of Quebec's propane supply is imported by rail from Ontario.

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"Delivery of energy is vital to people's everyday lives and that's why we're in this business," Jaret Sprott, Pembina senior vice president and COO, said in the release.

"Working together across provincial boundaries and helping a province and people in need is how we do business at Pembina and in Alberta."

Pembina's facility at Redwater is the only one in Canada capable of amassing the quantities of propane to fillunit trains, the release said.

The Calgary-based company said it will continue working with all levels of government in the interests of ensuring continuity of supply to alleviate any hardship.

CBC has asked Pembinahowit intends to move the propane by rail during the CN rail strike, but has not had a response.

In its news release, Pembina said,"While being understanding of the circumstances of the ongoing rail strike,the company took swift action to help avert the potential hardships of a propane shortage by working together with our customers to prepare shipments of propane for parts ofCanada, including to the people, farms and organizations inQuebec, where supply is constrained."

On its website, Pembina says its rail operations at the Redwater facility have received CN Rail safe-handling awards "for numerous years."