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In evaluating potential pipeline routes, AES has sought to select a route that avoids or minimizes potential environmental impacts, particularly impacts to sensitive or protected ecological areas. For example, AES has chosen the most environmental preferable route to bring its Project onshore, by proposing to install a tunnel to locate its pipeline beneath the entire coral reef system, as discussed below, allows AES to avoid impacts to the offshore reef systems.
Since the Project's inception, to meet its objective to avoid or minimize potential impacts on the environment, natural resources, and landowners, AES has conferred with landowners, government agencies, public officials and other interested stakeholders to refine its route in a collaborative fashion. Based on input from various agencies, AES has proposed a Project route that avoids or minimizes impacts to sensitive environmental areas, such as the offshore reef systems, Essential Fish Habitat (EFH), West Lake Park and John U. Lloyd Beach State Park. Indeed, even though AES initially intended to propose a route that involved the use of horizontal directional drilling (HDD) technology to construct the Project underneath West Lake Park - thereby minimizing impacts, if any, to the park - based on the input from Broward County officials, AES has proposed instead a longer route under a previously disturbed portion of that park still using HDD technology. In addition, AES' September 9, 2004, Amendment 2 proposes to change the nearshore construction method from HDD to tunneling technology which eliminates any potential impact to the coral reef system as compared to the HDD technology. AES will continue to be in contact with federal, state, and local authorities regarding measures to mitigate any adverse environmental impacts along its route.
In addition to soliciting extensive agency feedback during the design of its Project, AES has taken numerous other steps to reduce potential construction-related impacts. As with the use of HDD technology at West Lake Park, AES will use tunnel technology to avoid or minimize impacts to sensitive offshore ecosystems. Since receiving the Certificate on January 29, 2004, Ocean Express has encountered certain delays in meeting its construction schedule. To overcome those delays and also to minimize further (if not avoid altogether) the impacts to coastal and offshore ecosystems, Ocean Express began analyzing alternative construction methods that could lessen risks associated with the Nearshore HDD Proposal and still permit Ocean Express to meet a 2010 in-service date. The result is Ocean Express's Tunnel proposal, Amendment 2 to the FERC Certificate. In lieu of the Nearshore HDD Proposal, Ocean Express would instead construct the nearshore portion of its pipeline using an EPB tunnel boring machine to create an approximately 14,000 feet by 13'7" concrete segmented lined tunnel, with certain minor route changes to accommodate the tunneling, beneath the entire offshore coral reef system with an exit point a minimum of 200-feet east of Reef 3.
Implementation of Tunnel and HDD technologies will ensure
that the AES Ocean Express Project will avoid or minimize potential environmental
impacts, particularly impacts to sensitive or protected ecological areas
such as the coral reefs and West Lake Park.
