Parts of TransCanada pipeline network made of potentially substandard material: documents

Documents fromTransCanada andobtained by Radio-Canada's investigativeprogramEnqutereveal the company'spipeline network,including astretchthat would be used to transport oil if the Energy East project goes ahead,comprises more than 1,000 fittings possibly made of substandard material.

The National Energy Board (NEB) has known since 2008 that some elbows and steel fittings installed in Canadianpipelines are too thin and therefore less resistant to rupture, but the regulator only issued a safety notice about the problem in February.

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TransCanadaspokespersonMark Cooper said thefittings the company uses meet required thickness.

However, the NEB'snotice said existing industryaccepted standards appear to be "insufficient"and thatindividual companies should createtheir own enhanced standards.

Cooper insists TransCanadagoes beyond the requirements and that its fittings arethicker than they need to be.

Listing potentially problematic pipe fittings

The NEB required companies under its jurisdiction to provide a list indicating the locations of all potentially problematic fittings.

The substandard fittings were traced tomanufacturerCanadoil Asiawith production originating from Thailand.

TransCanada provided a list of all its fittings and elbows made by Canadoil Asia in Thailand. More than 1,200 fittings are part of the Keystone pipeline project andanother 225 are part ofits natural gas network, including 30 in the stretch that ends in Les Cdres, Que. west ofMontreal.

Another affected section, in North Bay, Ont., will be converted to transport oil if the Energy East project goes ahead.

"In no way did the list we provided suggest the fittings were defective," saidCooper.

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Same issue led to Alberta pipeline break

In a written statement, TransCanada said it conducted a comprehensive technical assessment of its network "after discovering that some fittings supplied by manufacturers were weaker than those we had ordered." The company emphasized it took these steps before the official directive was issued and ensures that its networks "operate safely."

A Transportation Safety Board report and an NEB audit into a 2013 incident in Buffalo Creek,Alta., where a pipeline transporting natural gas ruptured, confirmedthe elbow where the ruptureoriginated containedsubstandard materials.

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An estimated 16.5 million cubic metres of natural gas werereleased, but the rupture did not result in a fire, no one wasinjuredand no buildings had to beevacuated.

That pipe fitting was made by a different company, EZEflow, which has sincemade improvements to both its manufacturing procedures and its quality assurance programs.

Engineer Evan Vokesbasically predicted that kind of accident would happen. Hewas fired from TransCanada in 2012 after publicly denouncing whathe said weresignificant shortcomings in the company'spractices.

He said he repeatedly witnessed inferior parts being installed while working for TransCanada.His concerns were latervalidated by an NEB audit.

Some fittings were re-covered as a precaution, but Vokes is concerned that's not enough.

"The thing is, they haven't restored the fundamental material property of toughness, which stops the cracks from growing and exploding," he said in an interview.

NEB hearings on the Energy East project were to take place in Montreal on Monday, but were cancelled for the day after protesters disrupted the proceedings.

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