TC Energy And Barnard Pipeline Adapt Safety Plan

Barnard Pipeline and TC Energy will require workers arriving to work on a cross-border pipeline in the region to quarantine for 14 days before starting work. The plan is an abridged version that required workers to quarantine for 14 days while allowing them to go to work on the pipeline alongside others who were outside the 14-day quarantine window.

Concerns about workers were raised to county health officials and solutions to identify workers past quarantine and those not past quarantine were sought. Last week, Valley County Health Officer Dr. Anne Millard implemented a pink wristband policy that would mark workers who could be out and about in the community. That plan, however, did not address concerns about cross-contamination at work sites and inside transport vehicles.

The county did express optimism about TC Energy's steps to reduce the risk of spreading the COVID-19 illness that has crossed the globe in only three months, but has left nearly all of eastern Montana (outside of a confirmed case in Froid, Mont., along the North Dakota border) virus free. At press time, eastern Montana was apparently the largest untouched region in the continental U.S.

TC Energy released the updated health and safety plan on the afternoon of April 3 but provided no further details. In response to a follow-up question asking if the new rule applied to all workers as of the date of the plan, to all workers for two weeks since arriving or just to those arriving since the plan changed, a TC Energy spokesperson responded with, "To all workers for two weeks since arriving."

In response to a question from the Courier during a press call the morning of April 3, Governor Steve Bullock said that workers were being required to quarantine and were not being allowed to go to work for 14 days. At that time, the new plan had not been released and it was unclear if the governor was aware of the change prior to its release or if his comments sparked the updated plan.

In a morning teleconference with county leadership on April 6, Millard stated, "TC [Energy] and Barnard [Pipeline] are doing a 14 day quarantine. On Friday, they changed their current safety plan, I guess, due to negative press and other forces that are outside Valley County." In addition to local coverage, news surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline construction's recent start has been covered by the Montana Free Press, Montana Public Radio and the Associated Press.

Governor Bullock said he was also concerned about the spread of COVID-19 from pipeline workers but stressed that pipeline construction was an essential activity under the Department of Homeland Security's guidelines. The federal guidance does caveat that, "This list is advisory in nature. It is not, nor should it be considered, a federal directive or standard[...] Individual jurisdictions should add or subtract essential workforce categories based on their own requirements and discretion."

Bullock's office told the Montana Free Press in an email Friday that the governor adopted the guidance in whole so as "not to single out specific projects, in order to maintain consistency and treat industries equitably."

The Governor highlighted the measures TC Energy and Barnard are taking to reduce spread such as monitoring workers for fever and the self-quarantine measures mentioned above. He also said that he had asked his chief medical officer to coordinate with Valley County to evaluate the measures TC Energy has put in place and that his office would continue to do so.

Before taking questions in the press call, Governor Bullock stated in response to measures being implemented and the effects they have on all Montanans that, "These are unprecedented times and require us to make important and significant sacrifices."