Williams to Congress:
Aerial Surveys Necessary
When Planning Pipeline Routes
Williams is urging passage of federal
legislation that would allow pipeline
developers to increase their use of aerial
surveys necessary to collect critical
environmental information when
planning a pipeline route.
Tim Powell, director of Land, GIS and Permits for the Atlantic
– Gulf Operating Area, testified earlier this year before a House
Energy & Commerce sub-committee, on behalf of Williams and
the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA).
Powell urged passage of H.R. 3021, the Aerial Infrastructure
Route Survey Act of 2015. Bill versions have now passed both
the House and Senate and are being considered by a conference
committee for possible passage later this year.
The legislation would require agencies administering federal
permit approvals to accept aerial surveys in lieu of field surveys
when landowners have denied survey permission, giving
that data equal weight so that permit applications can be
deemed complete.
Closing a Loophole
The legislation seeks to close a loophole left open in the 2005
Energy Policy Act, which instructed agencies administering
federal approvals to cooperate with the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) and reach their permit
decisions on a timeline established by FERC.
“In practice, many of these agencies simply conclude they
don’t have sufficient field survey data to begin their regulatory
reviews,” Powell said. “This is a
problem for us.”
The current standard
is not compatible
with the realities of
landowner approvals.
Powell made the point that
this standard is simply not
compatible with the realities of
landowner approvals. He added
that Williams commonly obtains around 80 percent access prior
to submitting an application to FERC; however, if an agency is
requiring 100 percent survey, the FERC and permit processes
can’t run concurrently. This conflicts with the intent of Congress
when enacting the Energy Policy Act.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” he said. “Requiring 100 percent
field survey data may be fine for projects where a developer
actually owns the property, but in the case of linear facilities
involving rights-of-way, we must obtain permission from each
landowner along the route, which for major projects, could
number in the hundreds or even thousands.”
‘Catch-22’
A requirement for more ground survey than landowners are
willing to provide places the company in a “Catch-22” situation,
Powell said.
“On the one hand, the company must seek to gain access to the
land in order to gather the data desired by the agencies and
to attempt to remain on the timetable set forth by FERC, yet
to the extent landowners choose not to cooperate, it becomes
impossible for a company to produce a complete application,”
he said.
John Seldenrust, senior vice president of Engineering &
Construction, said the legislation will allow Williams and its
customers to proceed with projects in a timely, reliable and safe
manner that benefits all stakeholders. ■
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