An accelerated construction plan by the Kern River Gas Transmission Co. has paid off.
The company has met and passed a Sept. 1 deadline that would have shut down its interstate natural gas pipeline project until next spring.But Kern River "is not out of the woods" yet, said Michael Sieg, Salt Lake district ranger for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
Kern River - which is building a 900-mile pipeline from Wyoming to Southern California - had until Sunday to complete clearing and grading of a 12-mile stretch in the Wasatch Mountains above Bountiful, from the top of the hills near Skyline drive to the gravel pits in North Salt Lake.
Otherwise, the Forest Service was going to issue a "stop work order," telling Kern River to reclaim the land that had been disturbed and return after the snow melts to complete the project.
Crews working overtime and through the holiday weekend were able to clear and grade the route, said Sieg.
But the effort to clear and grade has slowed the construction schedule for ditching and pipe laying, said Sieg.
"I wouldn't say they're out of the woods," said Sieg. "We'll be watching the stringing, the ditching . . . The clearing and grading were completed at the expense of some of those other things."
Sounding more optimistic now than he was a week ago, Sieg said he believes Kern River has a good chance of meeting a second deadline: to complete the entire Wasatch segment - including revegation and reclamation - by Oct. 10.
"Our objective is to have them get it done and done on time."
Expediting the project is Kern River's decision to use helicopters. (Please see accompanying story.)
Air cranes from Columbia Helicopters Inc., Portland, Ore., have arrived in Utah and will begin hauling pipe shortly, Sieg said.
"It'll certainly make stringing the pipe quicker. There was no physical way they were going to string that pipe using trucks in the time frame we were looking at."