Resource Assessment and Permitting

At CEM, we embrace the responsibility to future generations of helping to preserve our community’s land and water resources. CEM’s Resource Assessment and Permitting services focus on helping our clients minimize impacts to environmentally sensitive areas by serving as trusted advisors who understand how our clients’ business concerns can affect, and be affected, by natural resources.

  • Resource Assessment and Permitting
Services We Provide:
Wetland Regulatory Compliance
Pepco Holdings, Inc.
PHI Easton to Odd Substation 69kV Transmission Line Environmental Permitting; Talbot, Caroline and Dorchester counties, Maryland

Project Scope

Pepco Holdings, Inc. needed to replace existing wood utility poles with steel poles to facilitate increased transmission capacity along an 18-mile transmission line that ran through three separate counties. Environmentally sensitive areas along this corridor needed to be evaluated to obtain necessary regulatory approvals for the pole replacements.

Challenge

Complex permitting across multiple local county government jurisdictions and environmentally sensitive areas regulated by Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) posed limitations for the project. Sections of the transmission line are located on Nature Conservancy, Chesapeake Bay Critical Area and private properties requiring special consideration for construction activities further complicating the process.

Solution

CEM met with all involved state and county regulators to discuss the project and quickly identify any particular areas of concern to the agencies.

Community Impact

The replacement project, necessitated by the increased local demand in the Eastern Shore communities, upgraded aging transmission utility poles to increase transmission capacity.

Relationship

CEM partnered with Pepco Holdings, Inc. beginning in May 2010 and completed the project in September 2011.

Responsibility

High ($100,000 < Budget < $1,000,000)

Forest/Tree Regulatory Compliance
Washington Gas and Light Company
Washington Gas Strip 27 Gas Transmission Line NRI/FSD; Olney, Montgomery County, Maryland

Project Scope

CEM was tasked by Washington Gas Light Company with preparing a Natural Resource Inventory (NRI), Forest Stand Delineation (FSD), and Forest Conservation Plan (FCP) for a 3.4-mile corridor associated with the replacement of a 20-inch natural gas transmission line.

Challenge

CEM was given a very narrow window to conduct the necessary field work and obtain the required regulatory approvals so that this section could be take off-line in June and be brought back on-line by September in time for the next heating season.

Solution

Knowing that there was no margin for error, CEM identified the requirements of all regulatory approvals, then defined and executed a timeline for all project milestones, meeting the project objectives within the shortened time allowed.

Community Impact

As a critical public safety issue, the existing gas transmission line replacement removed any potential threats to the community as a result of the aging infrastructure.

Relationship

CEM conducted this project for Washington Gas Light Company in 2013.

Responsibility

High ($100,000 < Budget < $1,000,000)

ADDITIONAL SERVICES:
Bog Turtle Surveys
Critical Area Compliance
Landscape Design
Highlighted Clients
  • DC Water
  • Maryland Environmental Service
  • Baltimore Gas & Electric
  • Maryland Counties surrounding Baltimore and DC
  • Pepco Holdings, Inc.
  • Maryland Transportation Authority
  • Maryland Port Authority
  • Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission
  • Maryland State Highway Administration
  • Washington Gas Light Company