The last time we saw any Enbridge representatives– Mark Curwin, Thomas Hodge, and Mike Ashton, to be precise– they were primed for action. This was at a Brandon Township Board of Trustees meeting last December where Enbridge was bound and determined to finalize an agreement with the township. The matter was clearly of the utmost urgency to Enbridge and they made it clear that there was no way they were leaving that meeting without an agreement. Waiting just one more week to sign the agreement, they said, would cause them “heartburn.”
Well, the agreement they reached that night (well, actually, they didn’t actually finalize it that night) was signed by Mark Curwin (on behalf of Enbridge) on Dec. 13 and by Supervisor Kathy Thurman on Dec. 17, making it official and legal. Why are we telling you this? Well:
Because Enbridge has already violated that agreement.
Yes, you heard that right. You see, as part of the settlement– specifically with regard to Brandon’s Woodlands Ordinance, Enbridge agreed to pay Brandon Township $10,000, a payment, the agreement states, which “shall be due and payable 21 days after the execution and delivery” of the agreement. That means that Brandon should have received this payment about the second week of January. But it’s now a month later than that and they STILL have not received that payment, even though Brandon has reminded them about it. Twice.
Now let us be clear about something here (speaking for ourselves, not Brandon Township). This isn’t about the money Enbridge promised. In fact, we’re not even suggesting that Enbridge will not eventually pay that money. We have no doubt that they will. And who knows what sort of large corporate bureaucratic accounting labyrinth something like this has to go through in order for a check to get cut somewhere up in Canada. We certainly have no idea. But that’s not the point and that’s no excuse. Rather, in addition to once again disrespecting Brandon Township, the point here is this:
When Enbridge wants what it wants, they act with tremendous haste and urgency. They turn up the pressure and throw their weight around and they get exactly what they want. They did it to the MPSC, they did it to the Brandon Trustees, they did it to us. But when it’s something of importance to others and not to them, like a paltry $10k to some tiny township, they drag their feet as if they just don’t care– even if that means failing to abide by a settlement contract they themselves have signed. We have said for months, that Enbridge makes it very difficult for anyone to believe the things that they say. And here we have a simple and clear illustration of the point. Enbridge signed an agreement that said they would do X– an agreement, mind you, that they were in a tremendous hurry to reach– and, despite the terms of that agreement, they still have not done X.
And they wonder why people don’t trust them.
Same thing happened in Canada. Enbridge promised to pay organizational costs to Manitoba Pipeline Landowners association for costs incurred to plan and execute easement signups. Took 8 months to get the money. They used every excuse in the book including our association was not set up as a vendor. The invoice was for 400 dollars. Once they had the easement documents signed sealed and delivered it was see you later. We had to hound them continuously to receive payment. I guess the corporate culture of Enbridge is one of greed.