The Federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has imposed two new safety requirements on the construction of the northern section of TransCanada’s Keystone XL after learning of potentially dangerous construction defects on the pipeline’s southern leg.
The defects, which included bad welds, dented pipe and damaged pipeline coating, have been repaired; however, the PHMSA wants to ensure that similar problems do not arise during construction of the northern section. The conditions state that TransCanada must hire a third party contractor (which will be chosen by the PHMSA) to monitor construction works and report back to the safety regulator. Furthermore, the company must implement a quality management programme to guarantee that the pipeline is built to the highest of standards.
Davis Sheremata, a spokesman for TransCanada, stated that the southern leg's problems were a completely separate matter to the construction of the northern section of the pipeline: "TransCanada had identified and addressed these issues prior to any product being introduced into the pipeline and reported them voluntarily" to the government. The fact that the anomalies on the exterior of the pipe were discovered in the first place is a direct result of the 57 special safety conditions we agreed to implement on this project and Keystone XL, many of which are not required by regulation but are standard practice on all TransCanada pipeline construction projects."
Edited from various sources by Rosalie Starling