Given previous results that have shown very localized environmental impacts stemming from our activities, we redistributed sampling sites closer to our Sable platforms to focus more on near-field information. Data has shown conclusively that our activities have had no discernable impact on marine life around our platforms.

Underwater camera surveys of the Sable platforms have also identified marine growth on the concrete mattresses we installed to protect the pipeline underneath our platforms and to prevent scouring. This was expected, and ExxonMobil Canada considers it a positive development.

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Our nearshore monitoring efforts are focused mainly on the recovery of marine growth in the Stormont Bay area, where the Sable pipeline reaches the Nova Scotia landfall site at Goldboro. Diver and video camera surveys of the region have produced results suggesting that our construction activities had a minimal impact on the environment. In fact, marine plants are once again well established along the pipeline corridor. Key commercial species, like sea urchins and lobsters, have re-colonized this area and we will continue to monitor the density of all marine life for any adverse effects. These surveys also show that Sable’s activies have not had any impact on a local aquaculture operation that specializes in mussels.

ExxonMobil Canada also monitors the status of an historic wreck, the Steamship S.S. Finchley in Stormont Bay. Our video surveys show no disruption to the site as a result of our activity and a recent independent report by a marine archeologist presented to the Nova Scotia Museum has confirmed those findings.

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The two-kilometre stretch just between landfall and the Sable gas plant at Goldboro appears to have fully recovered from our construction activity. Our studies show that the hydrography of the wetlands in the area is quite similar to the original pre-construction state, confirming our predictions that impacts would be minimal and localized to within metres of the trench. ExxonMobil Canada has not observed any previously unforeseen impacts to the area.

We are also pleased with the recovery of the right-of-way in the months following construction of the pipeline. Recent surveys suggest that the banks around the local streams have stabilized, fish passage has been assured and there has been considerable re-growth of vegetation. There is little evidence of siltation thanks to our exhaustive program of short and long-term erosion prevention measures.

Surveys of the Milford Haven River and the Strait of Canso suggest these areas have fully recovered from construction activity. There are healthy scallop populations in the river and plant life has nearly returned to pre-construction levels in the Strait, as has commercial species such as lobster and crab. The protective rock ridge installed along the Strait to cover the pipeline helped create new habitat and surveys suggest there are particularly strong populations of lobster in this area.

Ongoing surveys of the breeding habitat of the four-toed salamander prove that Sable’s construction activity has not had any long-term impact on breeding populations. Once thought threatened, these surveys show that the breeding populations are more abundant and scattered over a greater area than previously predicted. Populations have also been found adjacent to the pipeline right-of-way, indicating that the salamanders are extremely tolerant of human-created disturbances in their environment.

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