Kern River Expansion Pipeline, Wyoming to California

In support of the expansion of the four-state Kern River natural gas pipeline system, E & E worked with Williams Gas Pipelines and Kern River Gas Transmission Company to successfully streamline the environmental permitting for a two-phased expansion of this major system to meet urgent needs in California.  We obtained environmental permits for Phase 1 of the project within one month instead of the usual six months.  Following a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) review of the initial ERs, we then amended/re-filed the documents and obtained FERC permission to construct and certificates to operate within 14 days instead of the usual nine to twelve months.  The project was the first in the United States to utilize what became the new National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) pre-filing process, resulting in the acquisition of FERC and other federal, state, and local permits seven to nine months earlier than the usually required two-year timeframe.