Kern River Expansion Pipeline, California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming

As project environmental coordinator, E & E helped Kern River Gas Transmission Company and Williams Gas Pipelines meet spiraling West Coast natural gas demands by conducting the environmental work needed to bring expanded pipelines and compression systems on line.  We obtained environmental permits for expansion of compressor stations within one month instead of the usual six; then, following FERC’s review of the initial ERs, amended/refiled the documents and obtained FERC permission to construct and certificates to operate within 14 days instead of the usual nine to twelve months.  E & E prepared the environmental reports for the FERC application, including all surveys for 720-mile 2003 Expansion Project.  The project was the first in the US to utilize what became the new NEPA pre-filing process, resulting in acquisition of FERC and other federal, state, and local permits seven to nine months earlier than the usually required two-year timeframe.  E & E was awarded the project in 2001 and the pipeline went into service in 2003.

As part of our work, we developed the permitting/regulatory compliance strategy and provided project oversight to ensure that the work was performed in accordance with guidelines of NEPA and the California Environmental Quality Act.  The E & E team consulted with representatives of federal, state, and local agencies to determine the requisite scope of the field surveys, the content of the formal survey reports, and the need for and extent of requisite environmental impact mitigation and contingency measures.