PITTSBURGH—The Appalachian Basin is blessed with lush forests and abundant surface waters. Now that the Marcellus and Utica shale plays have spurred a new and massive round of natural-gas development in the region, operators are finding that their developments are often in the midst of environmentally sensitive areas.

“Environmental costs are a small part of project budgets,” said Russ Krauss, vice president, marketing and research, Resource Environmental Solutions, in a presentation at Hart Energy’s Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conference & Exhibition in late January. “But environmental issues and permitting have the largest impacts on project timing.”

While there is no dispute that infrastructure is necessary, there are always tensions between the need for new facilities and the population’s desire for an undisturbed environment. Operators are constantly dealing with the challenge of siting new projects in delicate ecosystems. For Marcellus and Utica operators, the major concerns are wetlands, stream crossings and endangered species.

In the Marcellus play area in Pennsylvania, for example, there are 681,000 acres of wetlands and 64,000 miles of streams. Ohio and West Virginia have similarly complex environments. Habitats for species such as bats and bog-nosed turtles must be safeguarded across broad areas as well.

Krauss noted that regulatory risks rank very highly on lists of top company concerns. There are fears that projects will suffer long delays or be blocked altogether. And, these fears can be very real. “One project requires many, many permits,” said Krauss. Federal permitting alone can involve the Clean Water Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, National Historic Preservation Act, National Parks and Recreation Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Archeological and Historic Preservation Act, National Wilderness Act and the Wild and the Scenic Rivers Act. “It takes a long time to get permits through multiple agencies.”

In dealing with the regulatory process, companies can gain project certainty and predictability through several strategies. Krauss recommends proactive impact assessment and identification of solutions, instead of the industry’s typical ‘sue-and settle’ approach.

“Stay informed, do a lot of community outreach, work with the regulators, plan ahead, understand the scope and magnitude of the problem before you walk into it, and begin with a solution in mind,” said Krauss.

“Remember the regulators never tell you how to solve a problem; they want you to propose a solution so they can say ‘Yes’. It may take a few tries. And it takes a lot of work to get it all done.”