Construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion could restart in September, with oil flowing in mid-2022.
Pipeline is currently being transported from Saskatchewan to Alberta, a week after the federal government gave the long-awaited project the green light.
"We’ve got about a third of the pipe now stockpiled in locations between the Lower Mainland and Edmonton," Trans Mountain President and CEO Ian Anderson told CTV News Edmonton.
Trans Mountain is now hiring contractors, with the goal of hiring as many local and Indigenous workers as possible.
"We'll probably start out with somewhere in the 1,000 to 1,200 people, I would guess, growing to a peak of 5,000 or 6,000," Anderson said.
The National Energy Board has 156 conditions that need to be met, and the project still has many vocal opponents. The deadline for appeals is July 8.
“We know there are still some that are not going to be satisfied with the outcome and they're going to take their lead and they've got smart people working for them,” he said. “So we'll just see what happens.”
But Anderson is confident that the project will proceed this time.
“We want to get back to work as quick as we can,” Anderson said. “We've been waiting a long time.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Timm Bruch
