TransCanada pitches pipeline at meeting in Stanley

Landowners around Stanley were given the chance to ask questions to TransCanada Corp. officials on Thursday night about the proposed west-east pipeline project in the last of a series of public meetings.

The Calgary-based company has estimated the Energy East project will cost $12 billion and will connect the oilsands in Western Canada with the Irving Oil Ltd. refinery in Saint John.

More than 1,000 people have turned out to TransCanadas various public meetings in the last month.

Some people, such as Heather Holt-Logan, a village councillor in Stanley, said on Thursday the proposed pipeline makes good economic sense.

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"There are the job prospects and how we would benefit and what not. But I'm really quite pleased. We have to move on," she said.

Earlier this week, Trans Canada released an economic analysis performed by Deloitte on the proposed pipeline project. The analysis said the pipeline could generate an additional $25.3 billion in GDP during its estimated 40 years of operation and sustain 1,000 direct full-time jobs.

The Energy East pipeline project, which still needs regulatory approval, would send 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Western Canada to refineries and export terminals in Eastern Canada.

The reaction to the pipeline wasnt entirely positive on Thursday night.

'Even if I do say, No, you can't go across, they're gonna go across anyway.' Maurice Dionne, Juniper resident

Maurice Dionne, a landowner in Juniper, said he discovered at the meeting that the proposed pipeline will cut across his 40-hectare properly.

Dionne said he supplements his pension by cutting trees on his property.

But found out at the meeting that any land the pipe crosses can't be replanted with trees.

Dionne said he has little hope that his protests will be heard by the pipeline company

"Even if I do say, No, you can't go across, they're gonna go across anyway," Dionne said.

Outside of the public meeting, members of the Council of Canadians held a small protest.

Guillermo Castilla, a member of the Council of Canadians, said the demonstration was designed to show an alternate perspective on the pipeline.

"We are just raising awareness among the public about things they will not hear inside this open house such as the fact that the kind of jobs this industry provides are temporary jobs," Castilla said.

Now that the public sessions have wrapped up, Kevin Maloney, the Energy East Saint John extension manager, said the company will assess the feedback it received.

"We'll try and meet the expectations of the vast majority to the best of our ability and come back," Maloney said.

"What we think would be the final routing and positioning of the facilities."

Maloney says there will be more chances for public consultations as the company moves through the different stages of the pipeline and through the regulatory approval process.