Williams : wins award for Atlantic Sunrise Environmental Stewardship Program

The Southern Gas Association (SGA) recently announced that Williams is the recipient of the 2017 SGA Environmental Excellence Award for its Atlantic Sunrise Project Environmental Stewardship Program.

The award will be presented during the opening General Session of the SGA Environmental, Safety & Health, and Training Conference June 13 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

According to SGA, the Environmental Excellence award is designed to recognize companies that have made significant impacts in protecting the environment by supporting environmental programs on the job or in the community.

In 2014, Williams partnered with The Conservation Fund to develop an environmental stewardship program for the Transco pipeline to protect and enhance the natural environment in the area surrounding its proposed Atlantic Sunrise project. The stewardship program was purely voluntary and not designed to supplant traditional compensatory mitigation required by permitting agencies to address resource impacts.

The Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit dedicated to finding conservation solutions that balance environmental and economic needs, partnered with Williams to identify the resources most in need of enhancement and/or protection in the Atlantic Sunrise project area in eastern Pennsylvania. This process included hosting a series of focus groups to identify potential stewardship opportunities. Ultimately, this process generated 539 proposals from various environmental or conservation organizations. These proposals generally focused on three primary target areas: aquatic restoration, trail enhancement and nutrient management.

After carefully evaluating all of the proposals, Williams and the Conservation Fund selected 17 conservation projects that would receive more than $2.5 million in program funding. These projects resulted in the restoration of more than 10 miles of wildlife habitat along streams, the construction of eight miles of new trails in central and southeastern Pennsylvania, and the prevention of thousands of pounds of harmful nutrients from entering Pennsylvania waterways.

Project Director Chris Springer expressed his thanks to SGA, noting how pleased he and his team have been with the outcome of the stewardship program.

'We knew that a project as unique and far-reaching as Atlantic Sunrise would require an equally unique and significant demonstration of our willingness to step up and not only protect, but also enhance the natural resources in the project area,' he said. 'We couldn't be happier with the results.'

You can see the results of the Atlantic Sunrise Environmental Stewardship effort here in these videos: