Location: North America
The challenge
Our client was proposing to install 16 miles of transmission lines to connect a new natural gas combustion turbine generating station to a regional power grid. The lines were to be located on greenfield corridors, creating numerous routing challenges such as land use constraints (homes, businesses, railroad corridor, controlled access highway corridors), and environmental constraints (waterbodies, wetlands, substantial tree clearing).
What we did
ERM worked with the client and other stakeholders to prepare a formal routing study by using institutional knowledge gleaned from multiple site visits; accompanying the client to meetings with local, state and federal agencies; and meeting with State Corporation Commission staff. We also engaged our network of ERM national environmental resource experts to assess potential environmental, threatened and endangered species impacts in the area. These analyses assisted with developing the proposed route and routing alternatives.
The impact
The Virginia State Corporation Commission recommended in favor of ERM’s and the client’s proposed route. Reasonable solutions for environmental impacts were developed, making for a smoother permitting process.
