Client: Kinder Morgan (El Paso Corporation)
Location: Northwestern U.S.
El Paso Corporation, now part of Kinder Morgan, developed the Ruby Pipeline Project to provide competitively priced natural gas from the major Rocky Mountain basins to consumers in northern California, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest. The pipeline crossed through four states and historically important lands for 32 Native American tribes, raising unique cultural challenges. POWER managed the project’s Native American tribal coordination effort and also provided cultural resource services.
Accomplishments
- Nimble responsiveness—Brought on to take over and fix the Native American monitoring program in a hurry, POWER hired, trained, equipped and deployed more than 40 tribal employees across four states in just three weeks.
- Diplomacy and collaboration—Worked with Native American tribes to respect and protect culturally sensitive areas, including deploying 24-hour tribal monitoring over a two-month period to address vandalism concerns during one project phase.
Project Features
- 675 miles, 42-inch pipeline
- 4 compressor stations, 4 metering and regulating stations
- Compliance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)
- Agencies involved: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Bureau of Land Management, United States Forest Service and Bureau of Reclamation
- Scope: 74,032 man hours over a 50-week period, plus field vehicles, safety equipment, training, communication, office space, lodging, and more
POWER’s Services
- Tribal coordination of 32 Native American tribes
- Stakeholder outreach
- Public meetings
- Native American Employment Program (40 tribal monitors)
- Ethnographic studies (3 in Oregon and Nevada)
- Plan to prepare National Register Multiple Property Listing (for stacked rock features considered sacred by Oregon’s Klamath Tribe)