Magellan

Magellan | Laying Groundwork for a TX Pipeline

Energy & Power, Crisis Management, Public Affairs
Challenge

When you are about to plow 400 miles across Texas, who are you going to call? From ranches that span two counties to dense urban areas, the task of moving energy across the vast state of Texas can be challenging. Pierpont’s team offers a unique approach of proactive engagement to construct midstream lines while maintaining peace.

Objectives

Pierpont has helped support right-of-way acquisition and lead outreach efforts with influential elected officials along the routes. Traversing small towns and rural expanses through multiple Texas counties, U.S. congressional and Texas legislative districts creates the need for a large governmental and community outreach campaign.

Solution

With each county having its own unique issues and requirements, Pierpont created a comprehensive communications plan. The plan included meeting with elected officials to facilitate local permitting procedures; producing key marketing and educational materials for community members along the route, and developing messaging for right-of-way agents, and produced maps to highlight potential problem areas. Throughout the process, the Pierpont team monitored social and traditional media for coverage of the project.

The team also supported media relations for Magellan’s project by developing a media response plan and field instruction card for employees working on the pipeline to refer to, if contacted or approached by a member of the media. Pierpont’s team also fielded calls from TV stations and local newspapers regarding the pipeline and drafted statements for inquiring media outlets.

Results

The project received support thanks to proactive outreach, including meeting with over 50 elected officials, orchestrating meetings with concerned homeowner associations, and achieving a high-level non-confrontational landowner acceptance. This eliminated the need for significant eminent domain activity and helping to avoid negative media coverage throughout the acquisition and construction phases of the project. The Pierpont team also revisited the communities once the project was complete to address any concerns that may have been lingering in the communities along the pipeline right-of-way.

This approach in engaging community organizations, leaders, and elected officials has allowed Magellellan’s pipelines to be built with only nominal opposition and to maintain their strong reputations as good operators.