Williams-Transco Pipeline Project In Chester County Gets DEP Approval

The Department of Environmental Protection this week approved a plan by Transcontinental Gas Pipeline LLC to connect a portion of its new seven-mile natural gas pipeline in Chester County to an existing pipeline that runs beneath Brandywine Creek.

The existing pipe under the Brandywine will not be replaced and will remain in service. The plan will mean that neither drilling under the Brandywine, nor damming it will be needed, as the existing pipe under the creek will be used.

“Recently, the company decided to use an alternative plan that will protect the Brandywine Creek and allow the pipeline project to be completed on time,” said DEP Southeast Regional Director Joseph A. Feola.

The approval is an amendment to permits issued by DEP in April, which included special conditions to ensure that construction within a 2,600-foot alignment in East Brandywine and East Caln townships would have no impact on the Brandywine Creek.

Those permit conditions allowed construction to proceed throughout the rest of the seven-mile project, which will replace 30” diameter pipe with 42” pipe. However, the company was not permitted to begin work in the section that spans Brandywine Creek and portions of Ludwigs Run until it had conducted a site-specific analysis of construction methods that could direct the new pipeline underneath the Brandywine Creek. Preliminary plans had suggested that a directional drilling technique could be a feasible approach for the pipeline crossing.

Instead, the amended plan uses the existing pipeline and allows 533 feet of pipeline work within the previously restricted area on the west side of the creek; however, there will be no change to the restricted area on the east side of Brandywine Creek. Prior to use, the existing infrastructure and its connections to the new pipe will be hydrostatically tested.

The permits that have been amended to accommodate this revised plan include permit for construction and post-construction stormwater management; a water obstruction and encroachment permit required for pipeline work that could impact wetlands or stream crossings; and a permit that covers the relocation of fiber optic cables.