Oregon spotted frog may cause pipeline construction delay in Langley BC

[ Letter Re Oregon Spotted Frog and Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP)]

File OF-Fac-Oil-T260-2013-03 63

14 July 2020

Mr. Scott Stoness

Trans Mountain Canada Inc. Suite 2700, 300 – 5 th Avenue SW

Calgary, AB T2P 5J2

Email regulatory@transmountain.com

Mr. Shawn H. T. Denstedt, Q.C.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

Suite 2500, TransCanada Tower

450 – 1 st Street SW

Calgary, AB T2P 5H1

Email sdenstedt@osler.com

Dear Mr. Stoness and Mr. Denstedt:

Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC (Trans Mountain)

Trans Mountain Expansion Project

Detailed Route Hearing (Hearing) MH-021-2020

Information Request (IR) No. 2 to Trans Mountain

In this Hearing MH-021-2020, the Commission of the Canada Energy Regulator (Commission) requires additional information, as set out in the attached IR No. 2 to Trans Mountain.

Trans Mountain is directed to file its response to IR No. 2 on or before 3:00 pm Pacific time (4:00 pm Mountain time) on 21 July 2020, and serve it on Redwoods Golf Course Ltd. at the same time.

Yours sincerely,

Original signed by Jean-Denis Charlebois

Secretary of the Commission

Attachment

c.c. Trans Mountain Canada Inc., General inbox, Email info@transmountain.com

Mr. Doug Hawley, Redwoods Golf Course Ltd., Email dhawley@redwoods-golf.com

Mr. Brad Martyniuk, Lindsay Kenney LLP, Email bmartyniuk@lklaw.ca

[Page 2]

Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC (Trans Mountain)

Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP)

Detailed Route Hearing MH-021-2020

File OF-Fac-Oil-T260-2013-03 63

Information Request No. 2 to Trans Mountain

2.1 Oregon spotted frog

Reference:

i) C04909-1, Trans Mountain, Supplemental written evidence, PDF page 4 of 18

ii) C06890-8, Redwoods Golf Course Ltd. (Redwoods), Written evidence, Appendix E, PDF pages 16 to 19 of 84

Preamble:

In Reference i), Trans Mountain identifies the construction timing to be between Q4 2021 and Q1 2022, during the winter months, to minimize impacts to peak customer utilization of the golf course.

Reference ii) indicates that there are documented environmental sensitivities along the TMEP route, including a wetland that is designated as habitat of the endangered Oregon spotted frog. Redwoods notes that the avoidance, to the extent possible, of critical habitat for the endangered Oregon spotted frog is paramount if there is a viable routing or construction option that minimizes disruption of this species, whose habitat is shrinking.

In Reference ii), Redwoods also identifies that, in Trans Mountain’s Mitigation Plan for the Oregon spotted frog, Trans Mountain indicates that, during the preconstruction phase, available strategies that could be used to avoid adverse effects to Oregon spotted frog and their habitat include routing, siting, and scheduling.

Further, in Reference ii), Redwoods indicates that, with proposed construction over the winter months to avoid disruption to the golfing season, the routes through Oregon spotted frog habitat have to be questioned as to their viability since the frog breeding season extends from February into March.

Request:

Explain why Trans Mountain is not planning to avoid the sensitive period for the Oregon spotted frog during construction at the habitat located on the Redwoods Golf Course. The explanation must include the following:

a) location(s) of Oregon spotted frog habitat on the Redwoods Golf Course;

b) proposed crossing method for each location; and

c) proposed mitigation to avoid or minimize impacts from construction on the Oregon spotted frog habitat and on any individual Oregon spotted frogs that may be present.