Large-scale pipeline projects, like the Midcontinent Express Pipeline (MEP), not surprisingly come with large-scale regulatory scrutiny. One of the regulations is to ensure that earth moved to lay the pipe underground will be returned to its former state—or better.

MEP is a 507-mile natural gas pipeline system that extends from the southeast corner of Oklahoma, across northeast Texas, north Louisiana, central Mississippi and into Alabama. The system interconnects with numerous major pipeline systems, and provides a critical infrastructure link in the chain that moves supply from newly developed areas in Oklahoma and Texas into high-demand eastern U.S. markets.

In 2010, MEP added additional compression, increasing the system capacity to 1.8 billion cubic feet per day in zone 1 and to 1.2 billion in zone 2. It's a behemoth of a pipeline, with the overall ability to carry 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day—enough to supply about four million homes daily. The project took two years and $2 billion to build. The transmission system is owned by Midcontinent Express Pipeline LLC, a joint venture between Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and Energy Transfer Partners LP, and is operated by Kinder Morgan.

By the time the pipe was laid in the ground, during the summer of 2009, the MEP project had become one of the largest natural gas pipelines in the nation.

In Vicksburg, Mississippi, a section of the Mid-continent Express Pipeline was the site of an exceptionally tricky land-restoration-effort.

The challenge

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulates construction and final approval on all pipeline projects in the U.S. With regulations changing rapidly, successful restoration organizations must be experts in FERC and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compliance, quick vegetation establishment and on-site erosion-control management. Knowing how to reduce risk by using environmentally friendly products without netting, which is often harmful to wildlife, is also crucial to a project's success.

In Vicksburg, Mississippi, a section of the MEP was the site of an exceptionally tricky land-restoration effort. The project exemplifies how key restoration materials can ultimately meet the strict standards of the regulating committees.

In one section, a 10-mile stretch in Vicksburg was a restoration project unto itself. The area was heavily wooded, so contractors had to clear a 100- to 140-foot-wide right-of-way. On-site workers had to battle the challenging, highly erosive soils and a season of extreme rainfall. Both characteristics made restoring the environmentally fragile area to its former state much more difficult.

The silty loam soils in the area are some of the most highly erosive in the entire U.S. Referred to as windblown prehistoric lake soils (known as loess), they are loosely packed, making it difficult to keep seed in place. Engineers and contractors not only needed an interim product to stabilize the unusual soils during construction, but also an additional erosion-control solution to restore land to its preexisting condition at the conclusion of pipeline installation.

Compounding the problems brought on by the erosive soil makeup were the wetter-than-expected conditions. About 30 inches of rain fell in the region shortly after installation, which meant project officials needed a tailored combination of erosion-control amendments to get the job done right the first time.

Bobby Thomas, owner of Reel Neet Erosion Control, Olive Branch, Mississippi, the project's restoration contractor, decided to work with Profile Products to establish vegetation and prevent erosion of the delicate soil into neighboring waterbodies and streams along the 10 miles of silty loam soils.

Previous experience dealing with difficult pipeline right-of-way restoration projects gives Profile, based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, an understanding of the intense scrutiny by regulators to ensure minimal environmental impact. The company has more than 20 years of experience involving partnerships with the U.S. Department of Transportation and airport, waste-management, water-management and commercial-construction companies.

?Along a 10-mile section of the pipeline, windblown prehistoric lake soils, or loess, are loosely packed, making it difficult to keep seed in place. Engineers and contractors need an interim product to stabilize the soils and an additional erosion-control solution to restore land to its preexisting condition.

The solution

To begin, Reel Neet Erosion Control stabilized the silty soils on the 10-mile right-of-way by laying down 160 tons of a proprietary granular version of hydromulch, using conventional broadcast spreaders.

Made from recycled paper and wood fibers, the product is used as a temporary or permanent solution to keep soil in place, increase moisture retention and promote vegetation establishment. The product was applied using a high-volume broadcast spreader.

Following the application of the soil stabilizer during construction, Thomas used a high-performance, hydraulically applied flexible-growth matrix (FGM) to control erosion and establish vegetation. He also used a permanently reinforced turf system that combines advanced technologies in turf reinforcement mats and hydraulic applied erosion-control products for steeper slopes and in bodies of water.

Upon completion of pipeline construction, contractors hydraulically applied a regional seed mixed with fertilizer, along with soil amendments specific to the deficiencies identified in the soils from agronomic soil analysis, and hydraulically applied the FGM.

"We applied the granular dry-applied stabilizer as a temporary solution to hold soil in place," Thomas said. "After completing construction, we mixed the seed and fertilizer with the FGM and prescribed soil amendments as our permanent solution to promote effective, fast vegetative growth."

When used together, the prescribed agronomic formulations consisting of soil neutralizers and growth stimulators create soil conditions conducive to establishing the best soil growing conditions. This enhances seed germination and long-term plant vitality.

Mixing the prescribed agronomic formulations with the FGM creates a hydraulic slurry that, especially when dealing with nutrient-.deficient or imbalanced soils, is extremely effective.

To transfer the water necessary to hydroseed this remote 10-mile section, workers had to pump the water as far as two miles. Using one hydroseeder on a six-foot by six-foot army truck and another trailer-mounted hydroseeder pulled behind a D-5 bulldozer, the seed mixture was applied to the entire 10-mile section, except within 100 feet of environmentally sensitive bodies of water in which fertilizer was not permitted. Complying with regulations, contractors sprayed the FGM mixed with seed and other products along these waterways, but eliminated fertilizers from the mix.

In total, Reel Neet used six 330-trackhoes, seven D-6 dozers and two D-5 dozers, and compactors to help with erosion on some of the steeper areas. Intense rains dropped as much as 30 inches in the region shortly after application. Contractors were concerned the treatments didn't have time to set up following application, but the 10 miles have held without eroding.

As U.S. natural gas production increases and becomes more of an alternative to clean-coal technologies, organizations must work with restoration experts that are familiar with tough FERC restrictions and EPA guidelines.