Onshore, the pipeline installation process is similar to that for a 

 sewer line or water main, employing a similar number of people with 

 heavy equipment to perform similar functions; however, metal pipe is 

 used and must be welded. An estimate of total employment is about 30 to 

 50 people. Onshore pipe-laying, because of the short time required and 

 because it is an additional contract for a firm already in that business, 

 would not stimulate any significant new employment. 



Induced Effects : Pipe-laying will result in minimal effects on the 

 community. Pipe-laying barge workers will travel home or spend brief 

 periods of time in local temporary residences. However, with proper 

 environmental safeguards implemented during construction (except under 

 localized and temporary circumstances), the scale and character of these 

 pipe-laying activities have little significance for the local community 

 and its natural resources. More significant impacts will come from the 

 associated pipe coating yards (Section 2.3.5) and service bases (Section 

 2.3.1). 



Pipe-laying companies tend to permanently employ their skilled 

 workers who travel from contract to contract with the barge. They do, 

 however, hire local labor to fill crew needs. A pipe-laying barge, by 

 the nature of its work, is only intermittently employed. Between 

 contracts, the boat is usually berthed in the nearest harbor or where 

 necessary repairs can be made. Most permanent crew members travel home, 

 and only a skeleton group remains to maintain the vessel and equipment. 

 Their presence should not affect the local economy to any degree. 



Effects on Living Resources 



An oil or gas pipeline, either offshore or onshore, has the follow- 

 ing characteristics of particular concern to fish and wildlife resources: 

 (1) underwater excavation; (2) subsea or terrestrial burial; (3) corridor 

 routing; (4) pumping stations; (5) landfall construction; and (6) 

 crossing sensitive habitats. 



Location : In planning an oil or gas pipeline the sponsor tries to 

 locate the line along the shortest route, avoid rocky areas, and have as 

 much of the pipe on land as possible. Location will involve traversing 

 the ocean bottom, a landfall at a beach or wetland, and traveling across 

 land to a refinery or gas processing plant. 



The sponsor must give considerable attention to environmental 

 constraints, particularly those affecting coastal ecosystems, because 

 construction of pipelines normally requires underwater dredging. The 

 underwater excavation is usually accomplished by a hydraulic "jet-sled" 

 which creates a liquid slurry of bottom materials allowing the pipe to 

 sink into the trench created. Excavated material is deposited beside 

 the trench and refilling of the trench is left to water currents and 

 sedimentation. Improper burial may leave the pipeline exposed and 



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