John Scarffe, Boulder County. The Boulder County Commission conditionally approved the construction of a new eight-inch diameter natural gas pipeline about two miles long that will serve as an extension to the existing natural gas pipeline delivery system during a virtual meeting on Tuesday, April 26, 2020. The Tungsten Control Valve Station will also be constructed to service the new pipeline connection at the West Magnolia parking lot.

The Board also heard an update from Boulder County Housing Authority on efforts to work with those who have mortgage and rental issues and progress on the Tungsten Village in Nederland.

Owned, operated, and maintained by the Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), an Xcel Energy company, the pipeline will run in the public right-of-way along portions of Colorado Road 132 and Highway 119 between the intersection of Magnolia Drive and Highway 119 and the Boulder/Gilpin County line. The U.S. Forest Service and Boulder County own the property.

Staff Member Summer Frederick said the applicants have ongoing cooperation with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the U.S. Forest Service for the location of the valve in the parking lot by West Magnolia Biking and Hiking trails and the intersection of Highway 119. Frederick said the pipeline extension will strengthen the ability to provide gas to surrounding communities and will provide a redundancy to the gas systems. 

The proposed alignment under review is part of a larger project that includes installation of about 15 miles of new six-to-eight-inch high-pressure natural gas pipeline in Boulder and Gilpin counties, including areas within the City of Black Hawk, CDOT Right-of-Way (ROW), and on the Roosevelt and Arapaho National Forests. The project is intended to increase gas capacity and reinforce the overall PSCo natural gas system by installing a new pipeline extension from the existing Louisville to Rollins Pass pipeline to PSCo’s existing system in Black Hawk.

Only the portion of the project within unincorporated Boulder County is included in this review. The project area is south of the Town of Nederland, between the intersection of Magnolia Drive and State Hwy 119 and the Boulder/Gilpin County line near Los Lagos Reservoirs Number 3. 

Previously, PSCo applied for a permit with a different alignment in Boulder County, located in a right-of-way along South Beaver Creek Road, Highway 72, and Road 97. This application was approved by the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners in August 2019. 

During installation of several miles of natural gas pipeline within Gilpin County and the City of Black Hawk in 2019, PSCo realized substantial challenges would be associated with the approved alignment in Boulder County. In Gilpin County, many residents live directly on South Beaver Creek Road or access their homes through local subdivisions only accessible via South Beaver Creek Road. 

Within Boulder County, the proposed realigned pipeline will be located in the Boulder County road ROW along County Road 132 and along the CDOT ROW on Highway 119. The proposed associated Control Valve Station will be located on about 0.2 to 0.3 acre of a parcel managed by the Roosevelt National Forest within Boulder County. 

PSCo has been working closely with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) since March 2017 as they complete their reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the Project. Qualified resource experts have completed field studies to support the USFS NEPA review, and related reports are included in the permit application. 

Minor features outside the roadway will include natural gas pipeline markers to identify that a natural gas pipeline is buried nearby, small cathodic protection stations and galvanic anodes (collocated with pipeline markers) to control the corrosion of the pipeline.

Applicant Craig Eicher, area manager for Xcel, told the Board, “We decided to come back in and ask for this modification. It will offer no permanent closures, and we will use flaggers for one-lane closures and won’t shut down Highway 72.

“We have to strengthen our system and provide more gas opportunities. We have built nine miles, and the top two miles are in Boulder County. We do need to get this into service in 2020,” Eicher said.

The work in Boulder County is all on Highway 119, Eicher said. West Magnolia is a good place to go running and biking, but the valve station will be shielded at the above ground location. 

This application was considered by the Boulder County Planning Commission at a public hearing on April 15, 2020. Staff presented the applicant’s proposal and recommended conditions of approval. 

The applicant then made a presentation that included an overview of the proposal and a specific request to modify recommended condition number 15. The proposed modification was as follows: “If trees are to be removed, this should be completed between September 1 and February 15, if practicable. Otherwise, to comply with the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, complete a nesting bird survey within two weeks of planned tree removal to confirm no active nests are present.” 

Following the applicant’s presentation, staff responded that after having consulted with the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Natural Resource Planner, the proposed modification was acceptable to staff because it met the intent of the original recommended condition of approval. The Boulder County Planning Commission conditionally approved and recommended that the Board of County Commissioners conditionally approve the Bobtail Tungsten Pipeline Alternate Route with the conditions as listed in the staff presentation but with Condition 15 edited to reflect the applicant’s changes. 

The applicants said that, as with original route, the Corps of Engineers and CDOT have issued permits, and they will get approvals from the other agencies. The road will be as good or better than before after construction.

They have outreach up and running with a website, and people have emailed to subscribe to newsletters, and they will run ads in local newspapers. The area has seen lots of construction recently, and this will only add to that, but they are trying to minimize that impact.

The Commissioners took no live comment at that time and said this proposal minimizes the impact going along the highway, and the north location for the valve station meets the criteria. The Board approved with conditions the alternative alignment, which meets the need of the public.

Boulder County Housing Authority Director Frank Alexander told the Commissioners that for Covid-19 recovery efforts, they have conducted a number of public meetings and town halls to highlight resources available for health care, food care and employment support.

Residents needing support should go to www.boco.org.covid.housing, where they will find support for people working on housing stability. The number one concern is paying rent and mortgage. They had a lot of success working with landlords, and the first step is to get residents to talk to their landlords. 

This does not relieve the obligation to pay the rent, but money is forthcoming for many families. Residents also can call the Boulder County Line at 303-441-1069 to leave a message or text or use the chat function. Texting is easier than voice mail.

Regarding progress on the Tungsten Village in Nederland, Housing Deputy Director Norrie Boyd presented an update on the Tungsten Village housing project in Nederland. She said the exterior is pretty much complete, and now they are working on the interior.

Construction has spread out to include working on the weekends, so they have fewer people on the site along with taking lunch at different times, and the contractor has started hiring a firm to come and take temperatures of the crew. 

Tungsten Village is just the right size to continue working as long as it’s safe. Between May and July, they will be working on enrolling applicants to live in the village. On May 7, the application will be released, and they will move the ribbon cutting, but they are planning for completion in July and August, and tenants can move in starting in September.

The Village on Highway 72 near the Calvary Chapel includes 26 homes of one, two and three bedrooms, including handicap accessible units. Interested applicants are encouraged to sign up for the interest list to receive project updates - www.TungstenVillage.org.

(Originally published in the May 7, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)