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Enron Mail |
John, I read Phil's statements concerning the Redrock air permit issue and=
=20 would like to make sure everyone has the facts why Transwestern was unawar= e=20 of the delay in the agencies issance of the air permits. I had met with ea= ch=20 agency prior to submitting each application (February of this year) to ensu= re=20 that each application contained the correct and proper information required= =20 by the EPA and State of Arizona. When I told them that we would need the= =20 permits by the end of September, each agency indicated that a September=20 permit issuance would not be a problem, in light of the fact that energy=20 issues related to California were to be given top priority. On a monthly= =20 basis I phoned the permit engineer assigned to each application to be kept= =20 aware of possible conflicts and resolve any concerns. In all monthly calls= ,=20 both agencies assured me that the permits were progressing on schedule and = no=20 delays were expected . As we approached the anticipated September issuance= =20 date, calls to the agencies were conducted weekly and this was when I was= =20 first informed of the 1-4 month additional time beyond the September issuan= ce=20 which would be required for the permit issuance.=20 In light of this issue, we in ETS might want to use this as a training=20 exercise and develop a protocol that the other DES's should apply to stay o= n=20 track with the permit progress for construction projects.=20 From: John Shafer/ENRON@enronXgate on 09/16/2001 09:07 PM CDT To: Phil Lowry/ENRON@enronXgate, Jerry D Martin/ENRON@enronXgate cc: Louis Soldano/ENRON@enronXgate, William Kendrick/ENRON@enronXgate, Larr= y=20 Campbell/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Ruth Jensen/ENRON@enronXgate, Richard=20 Melton/ENRON@enronXgate=20 Subject: RE: Red Rock Air Permits Heads up! Phil, I agree with your assessment, but would offer some additional information.= =01;=20 After returning from Austin on Wednesday and learning that Larry Campbell= =20 had=01;received a negative reaction from EPA Region IX concerning a possibl= e=20 meeting with them, I worked on this issue most of Thursday and Friday.=01; = The=20 strategy I discussed with Lou was to locate a local Arizona or California= =20 "political/lawyer" type=01;who would have the necessary contacts to get us = in=20 there and get the permits moving.=01; Lou agreed and we have been working o= n=20 that strategy while gathering more information related to the "right" conta= ct=20 that could get this job done.=01; I personally have had lengthy discussions= =20 (Thursday and Friday) with Lou, Larry Campbell, Bill Kendrick and several k= ey=20 consultants that have extensive contacts within both Arizona and=20 California.=01;We are closing in on a=01;local law firm and also a "high le= vel=01;air=20 consultant"=01;who will be able to get us in at the Director or Air Permit = Chief=20 level=01;to present (1) our=01;situation, (2) clean air needs for Arizona a= nd CA,=20 and (3) how long these permits have already been on file.=01; We should hav= e=20 someone identified early this next week.=01;=20 =01; Let me present the following information to=01;complement yours: * =01;The permitting timeline=01;being used=01;was based on historical=20 timelines=01;encountered=01;while processing prior Arizona projects.=01; No= indication=20 of backlogs or slower processing in the beginning.=01; A familiar consultan= t=20 (Argent)=01;was used for the air permit applications and no indication was= =20 offered by the AZ DEQ or EPA Region IX that normal processing was not=20 occurring.=01; Applications filed in March, 2001 and by letter from the age= ncies=20 were deemed complete by mid-April. * Within the last two weeks, the Arizona DEQ Permit Engineer assigned to th= e=20 applications for Station 1 and 2 has stated that he is overloaded and worki= ng=20 on the applications as they are in the "que".=01; He told Larry Campbell (a= nd I=20 have verified=01;it also by talking to outside consultants that permit in= =20 Arizona) that this is true and the AZ DEQ have been very slow lately in=20 getting permits out. (Caveat: One of the suggestions we want to carry in to= =20 AZ DEQ is that we would be willing to pay for a third-party contractor to= =20 take the permits and work them up=01;for release to the publishing firm so = they=20 can be sent out for public comment.=01; AZ DEQ is willing to meet with us a= nd=20 discuss our applications.)=01;=01; Even if we get this part going, this is = only=20 part of the problem.=01; Bottom line is=01;we must play our cards=01;correc= tly at this=20 juncture to be able to get our applications moved up in the que, typed, and= =20 out for public comment; but EPA Region IX will still have thirty days after= =20 that for their review of those two state issued permits. * EPA Region IX is a different story.=01; It is most difficult to put press= ure=20 on them, more so than AZ DEQ.=01; The applications for Stations 3 and 4 are= on=20 tribal land and these=01;applications are not delegated to any state air qu= ality=20 department.=01;=01;After the technical meetings in the office last week, La= rry made=20 a couple of calls=01;to the Permit Engineer=01;in Region IX and received a = negative=20 response.=01; Larry was told that the=01;permits would issue in one to four= months=20 and that=01;there was no need for a meeting with them.=01; Again,=01;my adv= ice at this=20 point is to find the right person with the right contacts at a very high=20 level and get the meeting set.=01; It's one thing to pressure the State of= =20 Arizona and get a permit applications moving; but if we are not very carefu= l=20 with Region IX we could damage our ability to not only get Sun Devil's=20 permits, but create audits and compliance situations that are far reaching.= =01;=20 Again, we must first get a personal meeting with them=01;to enable us to=20 present=01;the need, circumstances, and how long these permits have already= been=20 on file.=01; Locating the=01;correct person to help us do that is of upmost= =20 importance! * Clarifying the complicated point, EPA Region IX has responsibility=20 to=01;review and publish not only the permits for Stations 3 and 4, but to = also=20 review the AZ DEQ permits for stations 1 and=01;2 for 30 days.=01; Therefor= e, if we=20 anger EPA Region IX over permits for Stations=01;3 and 4, they could delay = the=20 issuance of the permits for Stations 1 and 2 that=01;have been expedited wi= th=20 the AZ DEQ.=01; It's a two-edged sword. Our Strategy: * Continue to work on the technical staff permit engineers, but very=20 carefully.=01; Indications are that our phone calls are beginning to annoy = them. * Locate a political/lawyer type that has connections at the top of AZ DEQ= =20 and EPA Region IX to help us get the=01;desired meeting with key=01;people = in order=20 to=01;move=01;the permits.=01; This should be done within the next week. * Offer to assist in any manner (e.g., funding a third party) to get the=20 permit applications moving out of AZ DEQ and EPA Region IX for public comme= nt. I have some strategic ideas that will increase the=01;probability that this= type=20 of circumstance will not occur in the future.=01; I will be glad to discuss= any=20 of this with you on Monday morning.=01; John Shafer =01; -----Original Message-----=20 From: Lowry, Phil=20 Sent: Sun 9/16/2001 8:56 AM=20 To: Martin, Jerry D.=20 Cc: Shafer, John=20 Subject: Red Rock Air Permits Heads up! At Stan=01,s staff meeting last week, the discovery of a delay in the issua= nce=20 of Air Permits was discussed.=01; Stan indicated that this was unacceptable= .=01; I=20 requested that you conduct a meeting that afternoon with key people to=20 outline a plan of attack to get the permit schedule back on track.=01; I am= =20 aware that you did such and you provided a voice mail update that indicated= a=20 plan. =01; Here is the problem.=01; Apparently the matter was further discussed at the= =20 weekly Red Rock status meeting on Friday and the following feedback was=20 provided by a =01&little birdie=018.=01; We can expect another unpleasant d= iscussion=20 at Monday=01,s 8am meeting with Stan. =01; * Joe Hartsoe has been unable to pursue any discussion with Washington=20 officials to put pressure on Arizona.=01; WTC attacks!=20 * Operations is unwilling to put much pressure on Arizona/EPA out of concer= n=20 for future responsiveness from the agency Re: Sun Devil=20 * Sun Devil is a bird in the bush and Red Rock is a bird in the hand.=20 * There is no way that we can get the Red Rock project completed as promise= d=20 because we waited until it was too late to find out what was going on with= =20 the Air Permits.=20 * The agency will not allow a bifurcation of the project and let us proceed= =20 with on site construction prior to a permit and delay delivery of the=20 compressor to the site.=20 * We haven=01,t yet had any contact with the agency after the discussion la= st=20 Monday.=20 =01; =01; =01; =01; =20 =01; =01;
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