Last week, Trans Mountain spoke to the members of the Young Pipeliners Association of Canada (YPAC) Vancouver Chapter. With more than 2000 members, YPAC works to educate and engage young Canadians interested in the pipeline industry by: promoting the industry, upholding safe and reliable operations in the industry, providing networking opportunities between other pipelining peers and assisting the pipeline industry in educating the public on the necessity of pipelines.

During this opportunity, we sat down with Anita Le, Chair of the Vancouver Chapter of YPAC to talk about what responsible resource development means to her and YPAC members, and what benefits the Trans Mountain Expansion Project can bring to a younger generation of pipeliners.

Why do you support the Trans Mountain Expansion Project?

Our support for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project is rooted in the fact that we believe Kinder Morgan has found synergy between the 3 Es: the Environment, the Economy and our Energy needs. This Project strikes a balance between the positive impact on our economy and satisfying global energy needs, with minimizing negative environmental impacts. Considering Canada’s high environmental regulation standards, this is never an easy task. Our members would benefit from the Trans Mountain Expansion Project through exposure to learn, grow and gain experience by being involved with the Project.

As an association, what’s your main interest or priority with expansion?

As an organization, fostering the careers of young professionals in the pipeline industry is our main focus and concern.

The Trans Mountain Expansion Project will help YPAC foster the careers of young professionals in the pipeline industry by providing jobs and learning opportunities to our members. It will also give young professionals access to experienced industry members and facilitate knowledge transfer. This in turn will help the entire industry improve and continue to push forward.

Are you in favour of responsible resource development? If so, why?

Canada has much to gain from responsible resource development. The long-term economic benefit is obvious and something our nation should take advantage of. A less obvious benefit is that Canada has the opportunity to set the standard for responsible resource development for the rest of the world to follow. The extensive effort we put towards ensuring public safety, reducing environmental impacts and partnering with local communities is something to truly be proud of and to showcase for the rest of the world to replicate.

What is your message to those who haven’t decided whether or not they support the Trans Mountain Expansion Project?

The economic benefit this Project will bring to Canada is tremendous; however, the environmental impact of transporting resources (whether by rail, by road or by pipeline) is always a concern. That being said, pipelines are by far the safest and most unobtrusive method of transportation. The environmental assessments done on Canadian pipeline routes are so rigorous, one would argue that the only thing better is a corridor that’s assessed twice, which is exactly what the Trans Mountain Expansion Project is.

Not only has the impact of having a pipeline in that area already been assessed, it’s monitored around the clock. Adding a second pipeline in the same corridor will result in a second environmental assessment of almost the exact same location. This level of redundancy is such a rare opportunity that we need to take advantage of it.