Florida Construction News staff writer
Pensacola Energy was awarded $10 million in federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to replace unprotected bare steel mains with polyethylene pipe throughout the City of Pensacola and Escambia County.
Funding is from DoT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrations’ Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization Grant Program in the form of two projects: Greenhut Court and Peachtree Park.
“How can we help communities do the work they need to get done, beyond regulations,” said Tristan Brown, Deputy Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). “Pensacola’s request was part of $1.8 billion requested during this phase of the grant.”
Fifteen miles of outdated pipe will be replaced in the Greenhut Court and Peachtree Park project areas. In addition, DoT has defined the two project areas as historically disadvantaged communities. The awarded grant dollars will improve these underserved neighborhoods by reducing safety incidents and fatalities while also attracting new development and employment opportunities.
Project 1: Greenhut Court – $6.7 million
The Greenhut Court project will replace 9.7 miles of unprotected bare steel mains and services from the 1950s with polyethylene pipe and eliminate methane emissions from leaks, removing infrastructure-related disparities by providing equitable access to modern infrastructure.
Project 2: Peachtree Park – $4 million
The Peachtree Park project will replace 5 miles of unprotected bare steel mains and services from the 1950s with polyethylene pipe, directly impacting the area’s environmental burden by reducing methane leaks.
The NGDISM grant program is available to municipalities and community-owned utilities for the repair, rehabilitation or replacement of natural gas distribution pipeline systems. The grant dollars may also be used to acquire equipment to reduce incidents and fatalities, and avoid economic losses.
