TransCanada routinely looks at the environmental risks associated with our operations. We want to ensure that our activities are not harmful to people or the environment.

Historically, we applied a system that we called SARM (Site Assessment, Remediation and Monitoring). Based on generic regulatory standards and assumptions, SARM gave us a subjective assessment of risks but lacked tools that were specific to individual operational sites.

We knew we could do better.

Working with Wai Chi Kwan, an expert in toxicology and risk modeling, our environmental engineers developed an objective means of quantifying the environmental risks inherent in our operations. We called the new model QuEST (Quantitative Environmental Safety Tool).

In 2009 we used QuEST to assess all 124 compressor stations on our Canadian Mainline and the Alberta System. The results were excellent.

For example, at Compressor Station 68 near Thunder Bay, Ontario, there is a beaver dam and associated ponds. The customary approach for dealing with potentially harmful sediments would be to dredge or excavate the pond. Unfortunately, this would destroy the beaver habitat.

QuEST showed us that the risk to the environment and people was low. As a result, we did not have to disrupt the beaver habitat. Instead, we will continue to monitor what is, by all scientific measures, a healthy environment.

In QuEST we have, for the first time, a reliable, site-specific risk assessment and management tool that allows us to focus our attention on issues of genuine importance.