Coastal GasLink pipeline mechanically complete before year-end deadline

VANCOUVER — The Coastal GasLink pipeline that stretches across northern B.C. is mechanically complete ahead of the company’s year-end deadline. 

A statement from TC Energy Corp. says history has been made by finishing Canada’s first pipeline to the West Coast in over 70 years. 

The company announced in October that the installation of the pipe was finished, while mechanical completion means the end of construction, successful hydrotesting of the full 670-kilometre line and engineering reviews. 

The statement says Coastal GasLink’s team is in the field getting ready to deliver gas to the LNG Canada processing and export facility in Kitimat, on B.C.’s northern coast. 

It says that while construction crews have been packing up, reclamation work still needs to be finished and some of the workforce will return next spring. 

Planning for the pipeline began a decade ago and the project has been delayed by protests, including train blockades by First Nations across the country. 

The pipeline was originally estimated to cost $6.2 billion, but that climbed to $14.5 billion in the most recent price tag released by TC Energy earlier this year. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2023. 

The Canadian Press