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Being a Good Neighbor
As part of our approach to being "A good Neighbour," one of our key goals in Canada and the United States is to establish relationships through a belief in working with and listening to our neighbours.
We realize that our pipeline and facility operations affect you and your land operations. You have our commitment that we will work hard to:
Lastly we depend on our neighbours who live near the pipeline to report any leaks, excavations or suspicious activity by calling local law enforcement or a BP emergency phone number for you area.
- Earn your trust through safe operations.
- Do what we say we will do.
- Be as open as possible when discussing our future plans
- Understand your needs and future plans.
- Show respect and demonstrate responsibility while working on your property.
- Be flexible and open in our planning to accommodate your thoughts and wishes.
- Respect laws and regulations and co-operate with industry and regulators to increase public awareness.
- Raise industry standards for betterment of the environment and the community.
- Protect your confidential information.
Lastly we depend on our neighbours who live near the pipeline to report any leaks, excavations or suspicious activity by calling local law enforcement or a BP emergency phone number for you area.
Interacting With You and Protecting Your Privacy
As part of our interaction with you, BP occasionally requires personal information. In most cases, this will include your name, address, and phone number. If you live within the emergency planning zone of a pipeline or facility, we may ask for additional information.We request the information for several reasons:
- Communication, correspondence and annual rental payments.
- Safety and emergency response purposes.
The Pipeline Right-of-Way
One of our important business activities is installing and maintaining pipelines. We install and maintain pipelines within a strip of land referred to as a right-of-way. Our hope is to acquire (If an existing right-of-way does not already exist) the rights to use this land for the construction, operation and maintenance of one or more pipelines. Of course, we may also need to discuss other things associated with the pipeline such as acquiring land rights for temporary workspace and surface leases for above-ground equipment.We can use the right-of-way after negotiating for and signing an easement agreement with the landowner. The easement is a legal document that records our agreement, mutual rights, obligations and any special conditions you may have. The easement agreement continues with the sale of the land.
If you purchased the land after we installed the pipeline, you will see we have a registered encumbrance on the title that indicates we have one or more pipelines under your land. This ensures you and others are aware of pipelines located on your property.
We periodically visit our neighbours to ensure we have up-to-date information. If you are a new neighbour, we would appreciate a call from you. We would be glad to review where our pipelines are located and update your information in our database. This helps us be a safe neighbour. Please dial the General Enquiries phone number found under the Canada Pipeline Info or US Pipeline Info pages.
If You Need More Information
We promise to give you all the information we can about activity on your land. Our obligation is to do everything we can to satisfy your needs as a landowner and as a neighbour. If we cannot do that, you have the right to obtain more information from the regulatory agencies that govern our activity. Please see links below to regulatory agencies.When we meet with you to acquire the rights to the pipeline, we will discuss your land use (present and future), surface conditions and environmental sensitivities. We will do what we can to ensure our activities are environmentally responsible. At BP our goal is "no accidents, no harm to people, and no harm to the environment."
Surveying
One of the first steps in selecting a pipeline route or facility site is a survey. We do this to identify the exact location of the pipeline or facility.We will ask your permission before making the survey and hear your thoughts on where we could locate the pipeline or facility. This is important as we realize you are the expert on matters concerning your property.
If we do any damage to your land while surveying, we will pay you for those damages.
Pipeline Installation
Before we dig a trench to install a pipeline, we remove the topsoil and place it on one side of the right-of-way. We then remove the subsoil and put that soil on a separate part of the right-of-way.Once this process is complete, we dig the trench for the pipeline and install the pipeline. We reverse the process by filling in the trench, replacing the subsoil and re-covering the right-of-way with the previously-removed topsoil.
While installing the pipeline, we will be sensitive to the impact we will have on your lifestyle and the operations on your land. This includes minimizing noise and dust and controlling weeds on the right-of-way.
Restoring the Land
Once we complete our construction operations, we promise to restore the pipeline right-of-way, as far as possible, to the condition it was in when we arrived. This includes tilling and re-seeding, if necessary, with an appropriate type of seed. We will also pay you for and crop loss, damage to the land and any inconvenience you experienced during the construction.Repairing the Line
On occasion, we need to enter your property to repair our pipelines. Although this happens infrequently, we promise to minimize any impact to the land and your operations. If there is any impact, we will pay you for the inconvenience and any damages caused.Abandonment
Industry practice is to leave most pipelines in the pipeline trench located in the right-of-way. This prevents the additional soil disturbance required to remove the pipe. BP retains the liability for the abandoned pipe as long as it remains in the ground.On occasion, we may remove the line if leaving it affects future land development or the condition of the land.
Typical abandonment processes include:
- Removing any cathodic protection from the pipeline. (cathodic protection is a technique that uses weak electric current to prevent corrosion)
- Physically disconnecting the pipeline from any operating facilities.
- Removing the product from the line.
- Cleaning the line by flushing it with fresh water, air or inert gas.
- Capping the pipe at all open ends by welding on steel caps.
We also remove any surface facilities associated with the abandoned pipe. Although pipeline installation, repair and abandonment are routine practices in our business, it is important to note the government and our own expectations set the standards we follow. This is because we know our neighbours expect this of us-just as we expect it or ourselves.
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