Testifying before a Canadian Senate committee last week, a former TransCanada Corp. employee turned whistleblower described unsafe business practices which he likened to "organized crime."

 

Evan Vokes, who was fired from TransCanada-- the Canadian corporation building the highly controversial Keystone XL pipeline system-- last May after he repeatedly raised concerns about safety issues (although it is not clear if this is why he was terminated), testified before the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources in Ottawa on Thursday. The materials engineer told the committee that TransCanada "has a culture of non-compliance," "coercion" and dangerously shoddy workmanship.

 

Vokes claimed TransCanada engaged in "deeply entrenched business practices that ignored legally required regulations and codes."

 

Vokes told the Senate committee that during the construction of a natural gas line that was part of one oil sands project, TransCanada's workmanship was so deficient that it led to a "100 percent repair rate." When he brought the code violations to the company's attention, Vokes claims that his bosses attempted to silence him. He also says that engineering shortcuts taken during the first phases of the Keystone XL pipeline construction "resulted in substandard material being used" in pump stations.

 

During the construction of another gas pipeline, Vokes and the welding team "found that generally over 100 welding procedures were signed off... when they did not meet code."

 

"Senior management still did not step in to stop the practices that were exposed" after learning of them, Vokes alleged.

 

Problems with the brand-new Bison gas line in Wyoming, on which Vokes worked, resulted in a major rupture and explosion in 2011.