Lewis Higbee Ontario 69 kV Rebuild Project
Almost half a decade in the making, Atlantic City Electric (ACE) recently upgraded three of their six high voltage, overhead transmission line circuits that bring electricity into Atlantic City, NJ. Approximately 220 new steel poles were installed, while 295 old wooden structures were removed.
Built to withstand 120 mph winds, the new transmission lines increase reliability and resiliency for ACE’s nearly 14,000 customers in the area. McCormick Taylor staff, including Tim McGuire (Senior Project Manager) and Jon Bartlett (Environmental Scientist), were onsite acting as environmental monitors for the duration of this project to ensure that it maintained compliance with all conditions associated with its required federal, state, and local permits throughout construction.
Jon Bartlett was featured in ACE’s project Highlights Video.
“My job is to make sure that all of those permit conditions are being followed by the contractors,” he said. "I'm proud to have represented McCormick Taylor and Atlantic City Electric through this complex, high profile, and environmentally sensitive project."
Four and a half miles of the project crossed over sensitive marsh land. In order to reduce the environmental impacts that construction could bring to this sensitive area, ACE utilized helicopters to replace the poles from overhead.
“This is the first project that I know of, that I’ve ever worked on, that has this extensive amount of helicopter work. It limits the disturbance on the marsh,” Jon said. “It’s an extremely sensitive area out here in the marsh. This particular [project] has osprey [nests] on it. We have a couple bald eagles around this area. We’re here to make sure that the infrastructure that gets rebuilt is done the appropriate way.”
Ben Morrow, Deputy Director of Energy Services, explains why environmental monitoring is so important for our clients.
“Environmental compliance can impact a project’s timeline and budget. If environmental commitments are managed incorrectly, it can result in harmful effects to natural resources. We’re proud of our trained scientists and environmental compliance specialists like Jon, who work hard to balance the protection of the environment while allowing important infrastructure upgrades to move forward."
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