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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
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January/February 2020
A superior client experience during a pilot project for
Dominion Energy Ohio in 2018 led to additional work and
further expansion of responsibilities for Davey in identifying
and maintaining their natural gas pipeline rights of way.
Dominion launched a pilot project in 2018 as it looked to
identify a partner who could provide a turn-key solution to
maintain 500 miles of pipeline rights of way in Ohio. Davey's
success in managing 50 miles during the pilot project led to
a successful bid and awarding by Dominion of three large
sections of pipeline, with work set to start in early 2019.
Jeff Crites, operations manager, Great Lakes East
Residential/Commercial (R/C) operating group, said the
initial work areas spanned three different large cities
across nine separate counties linking Ohio's northern and
southern borders.
"It was difficult to pull off because logistically the
widespread locations were a challenge," Crites said.
The workload starts with employees of Davey Resource
Group (DRG) conducting easement research, identifying
property owners, mailing out pre-work notifications,
physically traversing rights of way using handheld pipeline
locator equipment and planning out all the maintenance
work. Once all rights of way were marked, crews from
several R/C offices got started.
Local R/C crews managed the actual clearing. The work
included: mowing to remove briars, brambles and weeds;
clearing, removing any material 8 inches in diameter
or smaller; and timbering, removing trees greater than
8 inches in diameter.
"Some of these pipelines date back to the 1940s and
1960s, so they could have trees anywhere from 24 inches
to 50 inches in diameter in the right-of-way," Crites said.
Davey successfully completed its awarded section of
the pipeline work by the end of March 2019. In August,
Dominion awarded Davey the remaining maintenance work.
Crews started the new work in mid-October on a schedule
that planned out a sizeable portion to be completed in 2019,
and almost double the amount of that initial work to be
performed each spring and fall through the end of 2021.
Four weeks into the new assignment, the client said
additional funds had become available for the pipeline
maintenance, but the expanded budget had to be accounted
for – and spent – by the end of the year. The additional work
meant several million dollars worth of pipeline right-of-way
clearance needed to be billed and completed in just four
more weeks – which included Thanksgiving Day and Ohio's
deer hunting season.
"That call came on a Thursday," Crites said. "By Friday
morning, we had lined up the crews and brought in 70
more employees from R/C offices and Commercial
MISSION
Above: Crews cleared severalmiles of pipeline right of way per day.
QUALITY SERVICE, COLLABORATION YIELD MORE
OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE OHIO GAS LINE CLIENT
