The onshore portion of the Mardi Gras transportation system in South Louisiana presented a significant regulatory and community relations challenge for BP. The original project plans called for the Endymion pipeline to take a direct path from the offshore location to the LOOP system at Clovelly (see Fig. 1 in main article). This direct path would have meant laying pipe across cypress swamps and protected wetlands.
The team assessed several alternative routes and worked with regulatory agencies to route the pipeline through less-sensitive open water, rather than through the protected marsh areas. This move cost an additional $10 million but eased the permitting process and minimized environmental impact, won praise from environmentalists and regulators, and created project advocates among the local communities.
BP also opted to use directional drilling to lay the onshore pipe underneath the congested inshore waterways. The onshore Endymion pipeline segment will cross 110 pipelines—many of them 30-40 years old—in its span of only 35 miles.
The directional drilling will go under many of these pipelines and minimize disruption to the waterways during construction.
"We benefited from having an open process and making some initial design and route changes to the project that cost additional capital but won accolades," says Jerry Wenzel, Mardi Gras project manager. "We worked with more than a dozen state, federal, and local agencies through the process. They were very receptive and worked with us to find the best solution."
BP also worked with the oyster fishermen operating in Barataria Bay to protect oyster leases that the company was unable to avoid crossing. BP ensured the fishermen were informed of work plans and progress and sought to learn their needs and concerns to reduce any impact on their businesses.
Through this process, BP learned of a significant but unrelated problem for the fishermen–the state's intention to divert fresh water from the Mississippi River into the bay to prevent high-salinity water in the Gulf of Mexico from moving further inland and to reduce marsh soil erosion. While high salinity levels are harmful to freshwater wetlands, the fishermen were concerned that the addition of fresh water would damage the oyster habitat in the bay.
As a goodwill gesture, BP funded several research projects at two Louisiana institutions–Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge and Nicholls State University at Thibodeaux–into the hydrological effects of the state's freshwater diversion plan.
While the results are still pending, the move strengthened the developing relationship between the two parties and helped keep the project moving forward.