Enbridge building new pipeline, clearing land around current one

GRIFFITH | Enbridge Energy Partners LLP is cleaning up after last year's construction of its new Line 6B but continuing a flurry of activity in Northwest Indiana.

The Houston-based company plans to soon build a new 79-mile pipeline through Illinois and Northwest Indiana because of the booming crude oil production in North America and the market demand for more pipeline capacity. The new Line 78 will run from an Enbridge terminal near Pontiac in central Illinois to its Hartsdale Terminal on Kennedy Avenue in Schererville, slicing through parts of Will, Cook and Lake counties.

This fall, crews will start clearing a path for the new pipeline, which will run for about five miles in western Lake County. Enbridge also plans to soon start clearing land around its existing Line 62 pipeline in Dyer and Schererville, spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said. The company will remove mostly large trees, but also any brush, sheds or pools that encroach on the utility right of way because of federal regulations that require the land to be left open for maintenance and emergency response.

Installation of the new Line 78 will not affect as many property owners in the area, since it starts to run along existing right of way under overhead power lines when it gets to Crete and then largely runs parallel to train tracks between Sauk Village and Enbridge's terminal in Schererville, Smith said.

The new pipeline will be up to 36 inches in diameter and increase capacity by 570,000 barrels per day.

Enbridge wants to transport more crude oil from Western Canada and the Williston Basin region in North Dakota to regional refineries, including the BP Whiting Refinery. Production in North Dakota has surged to more than 1 million barrels per day, according to the state's industrial commission.

More of that crude oil should start flowing into Schererville midway through 2015. Work is on schedule to start next spring.

Enbridge work crews also will clear trees, shrubs and any structures over the existing Line 62 pipeline, which was built in the 1950s and runs from Cushing,Okla., to the Hartsdale Terminal. The company started clearing brush and trees from the paths of all its pipelinesin 2006 after federal regulations and industry guidelines dictated the land be kept clear. Work crews need room to dig up the pipeline if they ever had to respond to a leak or do maintenance, such as applying a new layer of anti-corrosive coating after a nick or ding to the steel pipe, Smith said.

After starting in Oklahoma and making their way east, workers have cleared about 350 miles so far, and are just now reaching Northwest Indiana. Most of the land they will clearis owned by the town of Schererville, but private property owners will be affected as well.

Schererville residents Pasquale and Connie Capocci learned Enbridge plans to clear 30 feet of right of way from the yard of the homethey bought in the Shady Oaks neighborhood five years ago. They stand to losemature trees that shield their home from a busy street.

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Enbridge building new pipeline, clearing land around current one