We provided engineering, environmental and surveying services for this extensive natural gas gathering system consisting of 17.5 miles of 24-inch pipeline, 7.6 miles of 16-inch pipeline and 3 miles of 8-inch pipeline. Our team assisted our client with routing, alternative route analysis, horizontal directional drill (HDD) evaluations, environmental review/studies, municipal and state highway occupancy permits, Pennsylvania Game Commission right of way acquisition, Lycoming County zoning approvals, environmental regulatory permit acquisition, construction stakeout, and as-built of the pipeline.
- The project was located in environmentally sensitive areas that required numerous alternate routes to avoid complex environmental resource crossings, conducted topographic surveys for site-specific stream/wetland crossings and HDD analysis. Coordination with sub-consultants to conduct presence/absence studies for threaten and endangered species and coordination with their respective agencies. Conducted field view with Pennsylvania Game Commission to determine the best route within State Game Lands 12 which minimized environmental impacts, provide sustainable vegetation to further enhance wildlife habitat.
- The project required extensive environmental and regulatory permitting at the local state and federal level. The project affected 91 streams/wetlands, avoided 213 stream/wetlands through minimization, reroutes, and required 1.04 acres of compensatory wetland mitigation. We worked closely with the regulatory agencies throughout the permitting process and minimized the review/approval with the longest permit approval (Joint Permit) issued within 6 to 7 months from the initial submission.
- Numerous site specific erosion and sedimentation control plans and geotechnical stabilization plans were required in areas with exceptional value streams and extremely steep topography. Alternative analysis studies of these crossings were performed, including the evaluation horizontal directional drilling.
- Our survey teams were on site during construction of the project to aid the contractor and client with additional staking, and as-built the pipeline for the client’s records and integrity group. Our surveyors were instrumental in working with the integrity group by calculating the position of the anomalies (dig ups) and provide stakeout for the quick and efficient replacement of damaged portions after receiving the data from the smart pigs.
