You could argue that building a gas pipeline is pretty much the same anywhere, but Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline LLC is doing things just a bit differently in Maine.
M&NP is constructing a 204-mile trunk line across Maine and small parts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. When completed Nov. 1, it will bring Nova Scotia gas to the northeastern U.S.
M&NP owners are: Duke Energy Corp. and Westcoast Energy Inc., 37.5% each; and Mobil Corp. and Nova Scotia Power Inc., 12.5% each. Duke is project overseer.
On a recent visit, I was impressed by the extent of M&NP`s efforts to satisfy Maine`s concerns about the project.
Water challenges
Tom O`Connor, president of M&N Management Co., observed, "Maine is a very tough state when it comes to construction of pipeline facilities. There`s a lot of water, and what isn`t water is solid rock."
The M&NP project is crossing 434 rivers and streams, plus 1,500 wetland areas. Six of the largest river crossings required horizontal drilling.
Those water resources are very important to Maine, which assigned three environmental inspectors to each of the three pipeline spreads.
Fortunately for M&NP, this summer`s drought in the U.S. Northeast has made those water and wetlands crossings much easier.
Oddly enough, Maine also takes its rock resources seriously.
The right of way bisects many old stone walls that line Maine farms. The state required M&NP to save and protect the stones so the walls could be rebuilt later.
Project Manager Ed Gonzales said, "Everybody involved with the project gets environmental training. If they don`t get environmental training, they don`t work on the pipeline."
Public education
M&NP has made a major effort to educate and placate the officials and citizens of the 45 towns near the pipeline, plus the 449 landowners directly impacted.
Many citizens were relieved to discover the line would not be built on cradles, as parts of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System are. (It shouldn`t be surprising that the Alaska line provides the public`s image of a pipeline, even though virtually all other lines are buried.)
Because 101 miles of the line-nearly half-are being built along an existing power-transmission line, M&NP has avoided many rights-of-way problems with landowners. It has established a telephone hotline for landowners and responds quickly to complaints.
M&NP also studied the history of the Iroquois Pipeline project, built several years ago across New York State, with the express goal of avoiding some of Iroquois`s problems.
And Duke has been careful to keep its 15-person project team intact over the past 4 years. Gonzales said, "We never changed anyone out, and it paid great dividends. We had no loss of information and expertise."
Once in the ground, all gas pipelines may be pretty much the same. But M&NP is demonstrating there are practical steps you can take to make the job go more smoothly.
Pat Crow
Energy Policies Editor
