Touted as the first interstate natural gas pipeline to achieve carbon neutrality during its construction and operation, Ruby Pipeline LLC was placed in service on July 28, 2011.

The project, by Houston-based El Paso Corp. and partner Global Infrastructure Partners, LP (GIP), was nearly two-and-a-half years in planning and permitting—much of which time involved coordination with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and various other federal, state and local agencies—before construction began on July 31, 2010.

One year later, the massive 682-mile, 42-inch diameter gas pipeline stretched from Opal, Wyoming, to interconnections near Malin, Oregon.

"Ruby is across the finish line, completing more than three-and-a-half years of stakeholder outreach and construction," said Jim Cleary, president of El Paso's Western Pipelines, in a public statement.

"During its construction, Ruby generated thousands of jobs and provided significant revenues for local communities as well as county and state governments. Going forward, it will continue to deliver long-term economic and environmental benefits, by providing clean-burning natural gas supplies from the major Rocky Mountain basins to consumers in California, Nevada, and the Pacific Northwest."

Pipe arrives and is unloaded at an El Paso equipment and material staging area near Golconda, Nevada.

Gas is flowing

The $3.65 billion Ruby Pipeline is the largest natural gas pipeline built since the $6.8 billion Rockies Express Pipeline, a 1,679-mile line stretching from northwestern Colorado to eastern Ohio, jointly owned by Kinder Morgan Partners LP, Sempra Pipelines and Storage LP and ConocoPhillips Corp.

Doug Foshee, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of El Paso, publicly said, "With the completion of our Ruby Pipeline, we have placed three major projects into service this year and will complete two more by year end. And with natural gas likely to be the cornerstone for growth in electric-power development, we continue to see exciting growth opportunities on the horizon."

Ruby is the first major interstate pipeline to incorporate greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation measures in its design, construction and operation.

"Emissions offset credits are only a portion of how we achieve the carbon-neutral status," says Richard Wheatley, manager of El Paso's media relations. "We used electric motor drivers for the compression at the Roberson Creek 'head' station, we installed special internal friction-reducing coatings in the pipeline, we incorporated LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) construction in the office buildings, and we received credits for tree reforestation in a national forest in California ravaged by wildfires, a project accomplished in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Forest Foundation."

Major milestone

Ruby is the latest greenfield asset of El Paso, which became the largest natural gas pipeline operator in North America and the third largest U.S. gas producer when it merged with Coastal Corp in a $15.6 billion deal in 2001.

In 2005, El Paso began planning a pipeline to move gas from the Rocky Mountains to market areas in northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and Nevada. In 2006 through 2007, El Paso began lining up producers' commitments.

On November 7, 2008, El Paso concluded an agreement with the San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the natural gas and electricity distribution arm of PG&E Corp. That 15-year agreement names PG&E as the anchor shipper. Other shipper and producer contracts were completed subsequently.

PG&E has contracted for 375 million cubic feet per day of capacity on the line, which has an initial design capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas per day.

Gas moves through the Ruby Pipeline to a point of interconnection with existing pipelines near Malin, Oregon. Ruby deliveries at that point help displace Canadian gas supply, which has historically held more than 95% of the market share at that location.

Currently, Ruby has about 1.1 Bcf per day of its total capacity under long-term contract. The project is a major milestone for El Paso and its partner, GIP. Also, it is a critical, long-term asset for Rocky Mountain producers who want to transport gas to the West and Northwest U.S., assisting in relieving historically constrained take-away capacity from the Rockies.

Environmental issues

"Early on in the project, before we even got the permit process underway, we committed to officials in the western states that we would demonstrate a commitment to good stewardship in its construction and operation," says Wheatley. "And then we were told by our stakeholders that such a project would have to help bring jobs and sorely needed revenue to the western states at a critical time. Of course, Ruby did all of that."

At peak construction, 5,290 construction personnel were working on the Ruby project simultaneously, exclusive of environmental monitors, archaeological personnel, and Native American tribal-issue monitors.

By the end of July 2011, more than 10,500,000 man hours had been spent on construction, including four pipeline contractors working simultaneously in seven complete construction teams. In addition, there were two compressor station contractors and two measurement station contractors working on the project.

Along the route, stakeholders were contacted and rights-of-way easement contracts were negotiated. "In addition to meeting with individual landowners, we had a comprehensive tribal outreach-monitoring program," says Wheatley. "We had special meetings with all the affected tribes in the areas where the right-of-way would traverse. We hired tribal workers in the office and the field. We didn't cross any reservation lands, but we did cross areas that were considered sensitive from a tribal viewpoint."

Frost builds up on the outside of a Ruby Pipeline section undergoing pre-commissioning testing at the 28,668-horsepower Wildcat Hills compressor station in Box Elder County, Utah.

As is the case with all pipeline construction, the planners complied with regulatory reviews by, and coordinated with, agencies such as FERC, BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, State of Utah Public Lands Policy Coordination Office and Boards of County Commissioners. Also, as El Paso laid out the route, it had to consider and avoid crossing special management areas such as national wildlife refuges, inventoried roadless areas, and areas of critical environmental concern.

Other sensitive areas included wild and scenic rivers and locations with unique visual resources. The company had to re-route several times to avoid going through proposed wilderness areas and a proposed Antelope Creek Archeological District. Ruby's team of environmental scientists and project planners took measures to ensure that threatened and endangered and sensitive aquatic species were not entrained or injured during construction.

Although Ruby's planners worked with these diverse agencies to ensure the best possible route and outcome for the pipeline, the company could not foresee every possible impediment to construction—including adverse weather.

While Texas and most of the South suffered a severe drought this year, the project construction area had an exceptionally high amount of rainfall. At times, the work had to be stopped or delayed due to winter weather, then rain, mud and adverse soil conditions.

In addition to those workers who were directly employed by El Paso and GIP and the pipeline construction contractors and sub-contractors, 215 archeologists and archeological monitors were employed during peak construction activity to look at anything that would be of archeological significance. There were 44 environmental inspectors and 10 compliance monitors in the field, and more than 100 Native American tribal monitors surveyed the route and worked with the construction crews and other consultants to minimize disturbance of any sites considered to be of cultural or religious significance to any Indian tribe. While the route does not enter any Indian Trust Lands, Ruby recognized the enduring historical, cultural and spiritual significance of ancestral lands within the project area to many diverse Native people.

As part of its effort to oversee construction activities and ensure that potential cultural impacts of the project were properly recognized and respected, El Paso hired Les Anderson as its Native American coordinator to organize the tribal monitoring program and lead pre-construction outreach to tribes. Mr. Anderson is a Modoc, one of the Klamath Tribes and has extensive experience in cultural resource management.

As a result of the archeological surveys conducted by Ruby, a number of areas with tribal significance were discovered and avoided, including 2,000 rock stacks. Ruby cooperated with tribal officials who conducted a number of ceremonies in the few cases where rock stacks were directly impacted by the project.

Ruby has partnered with the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT), the leading non-profit coalition representing these and other major energy-producing Indian tribes and nations throughout the country. Ruby sponsored an event entitled, "Bear Talk: An Energy Discussion for Tribes Along the Ruby Pipeline Route," which took place in Reno, Nevada July 20-21, 2009 and included more than 70 tribal leaders. This special workshop brought tribal leaders together, provided education on national energy policy and markets, provided detailed information on the Ruby project and its benefits, and encouraged tribal leaders' participation in the formal government-to-government consultation process.

The two-day workshop was free of charge and open to all tribal leaders from tribes within the Ruby project area. Ruby also partnered with CERT to present eight tribal employment workshops. More than 600 tribal members participated in Ruby's employment workshop. For example, roughly 41% of the workforce at Ruby's Vya work camp was Native American.

Pre-construction surveys identified more than 1,600 migratory bird nests, including about 1,200 raptor nests, which were avoided, as well as Sage Grouse nesting and mating areas, known as leks. More than 100 Sage Grouse leks were avoided entirely, and during the Sage Grouse mating season this past spring, there were many areas of the Pipeline route where construction activities were halted from early March through Mid-May. Such careful and comprehensive procedures resulted in a perfect record of no takes of any endangered or threatened species.

Ruby Pipeline was committed to taking "unprecedented steps" to build a positive relationship with Native American communities along the proposed route, says Wheatley. The pipeline was rerouted in Wyoming (Bell Butte Reroute) and Nevada (Mosquito Rim) to avoid historic trails, to cross land at previously disturbed or non-qualifying locations and was shifted about 30 miles to avoid a culturally rich area north of Winnemucca, Nevada.

In Oregon, numerous micro-realignments and construction techniques, such as narrowing the construction rights-of-way, were used to avoid impacting rock features that are considered significant to local tribes. Also, Ruby contributed funds to promote sage brush habitat along the pipeline route.

Altogether, 21 open house and FERC-BLM-sponsored scoping meetings were held during permitting phase of the project, in addition to the 125 agency and stakeholder meetings.

Construction details

To house the workers, El Paso constructed two main camps on leased land, which was restored after the project's completion. The first camp was built near Vya, a ghost town in Washoe County in northwestern Nevada. The company obtained special-use and other permits to build there from the Washoe County Commission.

El Paso built the Vya camp with leased modular buildings and parking areas for workers with their own campers. The second, a smaller camp consisting of dormitory facilities, was built in Lakeview, Oregon, and designed to house some 350 workers.

Welding shacks are lowered into place along the Ruby Pipeline right-of-way.

At the eastern end of the project, the terrain is a combination of desert and mountainous areas. The right-of-way included elevated areas of about 4,000 feet to about 8,800 feet above sea level, and averaged about 5,500 feet in elevation. The steepest grade encountered was in eastern Utah, at an elevation of 2,900 feet in a four-mile stretch with a 14% grade at pipeline milepost 86.

The project included 441,202 metric tons of pipe and four compressor stations. The head station, Roberson Creek, is near the Opal Hub in southwestern Wyoming and includes three 23,000-horsepower, electric-drive units. To the west, the next station, Wildcat Hills, at milepost 172.5 in Box Elder County, Utah, has two 15,000-horsepower, gas-turbine units.

Crossing into Nevada, in Elko County, the pipeline meets the mid-point compressor station, Wieland Flat, which houses two 20,000-horsepower, gas-turbine units. The final station is Desert Valley, at milepost 476.4 in Humboldt County in northwestern Nevada. Desert Valley has one 20,000-horsepower, gas-turbine unit.

"That's a total of about 160,000 ISO horsepower," says Wheatley. "All the stations have power backup generators, except for the three electric driven units at Roberson Creek. There, the power grid can be split, so power can be supplied from either side of the grid."

There are eight interconnections to points for receipt or delivery. Meter stations at these points include instrument buildings, ultrasonic meters, and flow control valves. The Tule Lake station, where the Onyx Hill and Sapphire Mountain interconnections to the PG&E and Tuscarora pipelines are located, stations also includes mercaptan-odorant systems and tanks, which give the natural gas a detectable odor. Gas delivered to GTN at the Turquoise Flats interconnect and to Paiute Pipeline at the Opal Valley interconnect is not odorized. Also, El Paso installed high-efficiency gas filters at the Roberson Creek station, downstream of all of the receipt points.

The transmission system includes overpressure protection in the line itself. Ruby's maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) will be 1,440 pounds per square inch, and the over-pressure protection system can automatically prevent the compressor stations from exceeding MAOP in the pipeline. Generally, all the stations have very similar infrastructure equipment.

The four construction companies hired to build the pipeline were U.S. Pipeline Inc. and Associated Pipeline Inc., both based in Houston, Precision Pipeline LLC, based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Rockford Corp., based in Hillsboro, Oregon. The two compressor station contractors were Bodell Construction Co. and Turner Industries Group. The two interconnect contractors were Flint Engineering and Schmueser & Associates.

Partnership strategy

In third -quarter 2010, GIP agreed to invest $700 million to ultimately acquire 50% of the Ruby Pipeline.

"While we don't typically invest in pure greenfield projects, GIP was very excited to partner with a best-in-class pipeline operator like El Paso," says Salim Samaha, a principal of GIP. "Managing pure greenfield projects is not our core area of expertise. But it is El Paso's area of expertise because they build and operate pipelines for a living.

"In order to address the pure greenfield nature of the pipeline project, we negotiated a fixed price arrangement for our 50% interest. On an ongoing basis, when it comes to making strategic decisions about the pipeline, GIP makes them jointly with El Paso. However, El Paso is the operator of the project, making the day-to-day decisions that a typical management team would make," he says.

"One of GIP's main focus areas is investing in the oil and gas midstream sector. Investing in a natural gas pipeline like Ruby that has long term contracts with credit-worthy counterparties is in the middle of the fairway for us," he says.

"We are very excited about the long-term fundamentals of the pipeline. There is a lot of gas in the Rockies, and it needs to get to the right markets. Too many pipelines are moving gas east. We like the fact that Ruby is moving gas west to the consumers in California, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest, which are too dependent on gas from Alberta and British Columbia."

Canadian gas exports to the U.S. have been in decline, notes Samaha, so GIP found it liked that Ruby would help consumers in California, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest diversify their gas supply and tap into a U.S. source in the Rockies. At press time, the pipeline had been commissioned and brought fully online.

Due to muddy conditions on the pipeline right-of-way, a helicopter was used to string and place some of the pipe before it was lowered into place on the pipeline’s western end, in the Nevada-Oregon area. Source: El Paso Corp.