Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes: How changes to your project cost you big time!
(Room Conference Hall)
03 Apr 18
2:00 PM
-
3:30 PM
Design and route selection for a new pipeline project is a very time-intensive, long-lead time process. As Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant.” From start to finish, project footprint and design is continually changing as new information from the field is gathered: reroutes to avoid sensitive resources, additional space to address constructability issues, facility size changes, relocations of facilities at the request of land owners and regulators. Some changes are big, some are small—but all of these changes come at a cost. The type and timing of changes can adversely affect project schedule, budget, and quality. When teams propose changes to projects, the change may address a simple concern, but the effects are far from simple. What looks like a simple change on the surface may have unexpected trickle-down impacts to the overall project that might not be anticipated when you’re just addressing the primary concern. Moving the fence line of your proposed compressor station sounds simple enough, right? But how does that impact your air permit? Noise modeling? FERC Application? Adding 0.01 acre of ATWS is nothing, right? But what kind of impact could it have on your U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approval? Your Section 404 permit? Even these seemingly minor changes to your proposed project’s footprint can have significant impacts on the permitting, approval, and construction of your project—and cost a lot of money! Through visual examples and case studies, this presentation will demonstrate how even minor project footprint changes have major trickle-down impacts—and what they can cost you. We will also explore best management practices to implement during project planning to avoid late-in-the-game footprint changes that can be detrimental to your project’s schedule and budget.