Of all damage that interferes with pipeline operations, only 7.2 percent include instances of purposeful outside interference such as physical attacks, which can be carried out by any number of actors—from domestic extremists to protesters and more.
“A lot of that has shifted to much more of the environmental NGOs and the activists,” says Don Greenwood, manager of corporate security for TC Energy, a major North American energy infrastructure company. “That’s probably our greatest risk, and it’s our greatest risk to our projects and the ability for the industry, as well as TC Energy, to be able to develop more pipelines and larger pipelines.”