Developing a Northwestern Ontario Definition of Significant Water Crossings In Response to the Proposed Energy East Pipeline Report Prepared For: Common Voice Northwest, Energy East Task Force Under the National Energy Board Participant Funding Program June 20, 2017 349 Mooney Avenue Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada P7B 5L5 Business: (807) 345-5445 www.kbm.ca Defining Significant Water Crossings and Sensitive Areas – Common Voice Northwest Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 8 Review of TransCanada Highly Sensitive Receptors and Major Water Crossing Analysis .................................... 9 TransCanada’s Approach to Water Crossings ................................................................................................... 9 Highly Sensitive Receptors .............................................................................................................................. 10 HSR Data Sources and Methodology .............................................................................................................. 11 Values that Do Not Meet HSR Criteria ............................................................................................................ 14 Identified Ecological Highly Sensitive Receptors ............................................................................................ 14 Major Water Crossings and TransCanada’s Valve Siting Optimization Process ............................................. 18 Identifying values and areas of concern through community meetings and online surveys ............................. 20 Meeting Schedule and Participation ............................................................................................................... 20 Defining Significant Water Crossings .................................................................................................................. 21 Community Meetings ..................................................................................................................................... 21 Online Survey .................................................................................................................................................. 25 List of Management Agencies and Stakeholder Groups That Provided Information ..................................... 27 Significant Water Crossings and Sensitive Areas ................................................................................................ 27 Drinking Water Intakes ................................................................................................................................... 27 Lake Superior Drainage Basin ......................................................................................................................... 28 Lake Nipigon and Its Tributaries ..................................................................................................................... 31 Critical Habitat for Aquatic Species at Risk ..................................................................................................... 32 Aquatic Protected Areas ................................................................................................................................. 37 Dog and Kaministiqua Rivers, .......................................................................................................................... 39 Savanne River and Lac Des Mille Lacs ............................................................................................................. 39 Winnipeg River ................................................................................................................................................ 40 Assessment of Potential Impacts to Provincial Natural Heritage Values ........................................................... 41 Ontario Drainage Basins ................................................................................................................................. 41 Data Layers Used ............................................................................................................................................ 45 Results: Concentrations of Values .................................................................................................................. 46 Conclusions and Summary .................................................................................................................................. 49 APPENDIX A: COMMON VOICE NORTHWEST APPLICATION TO PARTICIPATE ................................................... 53 APPENDIX B: CVNW AD FOR CONSULTANTS ...................................................................................................... 59 1 Defining Significant Water Crossings and Sensitive Areas – Common Voice Northwest APPENDIX C: SUMMARY OF COMMUNITY AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT EFFORTS AND OUTCOMES ..... 61 APPENDIX D: MEDIA COVERAGE ......................................................................................................................... 64 APPENDIX E: LIST OF DATA SOURCES USED IN ANALYSIS ................................................................................... 67 Land Information Ontario Datasets ................................................................................................................ 67 Other Data ...................................................................................................................................................... 67 APPENDIX F: CONCENTRATIONS OF VALUES BY QUATERNARY WATERSHED .................................................... 68 APPENDIX G: AREAS OF CONCERN IDENTIFIED AT COMMUNITY MEETINGS ..................................................... 71 APPENDIX H: INVITATION LIST FOR COMMUNITY MEETINGS ............................................................................ 75 APPENDIX I: KBM RESPONSE TO COMMENTS ON DRAFT REPORT ..................................................................... 83 List of Figures Figure 1. Inland commercial fisheries in NW Ontario (Source: OMNRF 2016). ................................................. 15 Figure 2. North American distribution of white wood aster (Source: Argus et al., 1987). ................................. 17 Figure 3. TransCanada’s valve siting optimization process (Source: TransCanada Consolidated Application, Volume 4 Pipeline Design). ................................................................................................................................. 19 Figure 4. Community meeting locations. ............................................................................................................ 21 Figure 5. Number of responses to a list of values posted at community meetings. .......................................... 22 Figure 6. Areas of concern identified by meeting participants........................................................................... 24 Figure 7. Results of values ranking – CVNW Energy East online survey. ............................................................ 26 Figure 8. Participant awareness of significant areas – CVNW Energy East online survey. ................................. 26 Figure 9. Lake Superior drainage basin (Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada). ........................... 29 Figure 10. Map of pipeline relative to Nipigon Bay RAP Area of Concern. ......................................................... 30 Figure 11. Fisheries Management Zone 9 (Source: OMNRF). ............................................................................. 31 Figure 12. Designatable units used in COSEWIC report. ..................................................................................... 33 Figure 13. COSSARO status of NW Ontario lake sturgeon populations. ............................................................. 33 Figure 14. Known locations of shortjaw cisco. .................................................................................................... 34 Figure 15. Known occurrences of blackfin cisco in Ontario (Source: Ontario Fishes). ....................................... 35 Figure 16. Northern brook lamprey in Ontario (Source: OMNRF). ..................................................................... 36 Figure 17. Known locations of kiyi in Lake Superior (Source: DFO) .................................................................... 37 Figure 18. Lake of the Woods drainage basin. .................................................................................................... 40 Figure 19. The Laurentian Divide (a continental divide separating Ontario drainage basins). ........................... 42 Figure 20. Flow direction in primary watersheds (NW Ontario) ......................................................................... 43 Figure 21. Potential area of impact resulting from overland flow or direct downstream impacts. ................... 44 Figure 22. Concentrations of values within the area of potential overland flow by quaternary watershed. .... 47 2 Defining Significant Water Crossings and Sensitive Areas – Common Voice Northwest List of Tables Table 1. List of identified significant water crossings and sensitive areas. ..........................................................