Supervisors still looking into hiring carbon pipeline inspection firm

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors received its first bid for inspection services for the proposed Summit Carbon Pipeline project.
At the March 29 meeting, the supervisors heard a presentation from Luis Leon, the owner and principal engineer of L.T. Leon Associates Inc., out of Des Moines. Leon said the civil engineering firm was made up of around 15 full-time employees, who would be well-suited to the county's needs.
“We have employees that are doing pipeline inspection work like the type we're talking about for Montgomery County on a regular basis,” Leon said via a Zoom call.
Leon said the company had a focus on water resources and ecosystems restoration, but another service provided was conservation services.
“We are a certified technical service provider through the NRCS, which is a certification that gives us some training to specifically provide NRCS-approved practices such as conservation planning, and have a pretty good history of providing conservation services to farmers, landowners, and tenants,” commented Leon.
Leon added the company also had specific pipeline integrity services, and pipeline inspection experience that would benefit the county if the pipeline project proceeded.
“Over the last seven years, we've worked with a national company across 12 states, and have been involved with risk-management with the pipeline companies, working directly with them to be the interface between the landowners and the pipeline companies. We have full-time employees out every day trying to identify areas of concern to protect the pipeline, and protect the landowners,” Leon explained. “We also help coordinate between contractors and the landowners to set up the sites where the contractor will complete mitigation projects, such as covering, or to fix exposures, gullys, and water beds. We're out there watching the construction and making sure it’s done according to the land and the specs, and coordinating with the landowners to make sure when the project is done, the land is left as it was when they started.”
Supervisor Mike Olson asked if, with such a limited amount of staff, whether or not they had the number needed to provide the level of oversight needed for this type of project. Leon said they would.
“Our intent would be to staff up as needed, and have our land conservation and pipeline integrity manager Rich Krumel be the point of contact, and have him there to make sure it gets delivered the way it needs to,” advised Leon. “With our seven years of experience doing this, we feel confident to bring folks on, if needed, to help cover that. Also, we're not doing this for any other counties in the state, and this would be our only project. Having to spread between other counties will not be an issue.”
Leon added while they have experience providing inspection services for the pipeline companies themselves, this project would be different as they would be working directly with the county and the landowners.
“It's a different role, in that we’re representing you, and we’ve done that with other county conservation projects, but not specifically for pipeline work,” Leon stated.
Robinson asked for clarification, as Leon said they had worked for pipeline companies, and asked if they had any association with Summit Carbon Solutions. Leon said they did not.
“The company we work for has existing infrastructure, and the pipelines we worked on for them have been out there for decades. We have no affiliation with the company that will be constructing this project,” Leon commented.
Supervisor Charla Schmid asked for a resume and additional information from the company to help in making a decision. Supervisor Donna Robinson also suggested that the county determine if there were any entities more local that would provide a similar service for the county for comparison.
Supervisor Randy Cooper said he was under the impression the county was in no rush to hire an inspector.
Peterson said that with the pipeline company sending out certified letters expressing an intent to survey ground that it may be in the best interests of the county to have someone on hand to represent the county's interests.
Leon was in agreement that the earlier they could establish a relationship with the landowners they would be working with, and get an understanding of what the pipeline company was intending to do, the better.
“It would give us an opportunity to look at the route, and we might be able to assist the landowners in potentially shifting the pipeline plans one way or the other. I'm not exactly sure what's allowable on that, but it can be looked into,” Leon stated.
The supervisors took no action on the hiring of the inspection firm at this time.