Environmental Project Experience
Willow Development Project Permitting Support
Our team provided permitting support to the planned Willow Development Project. ACES provides a team of regulatory specialists who are responsible for preparing regulatory permit applications and acquiring agency approvals, the most significant being the USACE Clean Water Act (CWA) Permit, North Slope Borough Rezone Classification, and BLM ROW. ACES worked alongside ABR to support the preparation of the USACE CWA application and USACE authorization. That authorization required an approved Aquatic Site Assessment (ASA) and Wetland Compensatory Mitigation Plan (CMP). ABR led the wetlands habitat field data collection, and ACES staff utilized that information to support the preparation of the CWA application and to develop an ASA that resulted in an approved CMP and CWA permit. ACES also prepared the necessary Anti-Degradation Analysis that resulted in an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Section 401 Water Quality Certification (WQC).
Environmental Studies
In-field aerial and pedestrian survey with subsurface testing in remote areas of the North Slope for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers section 106 consultation. Work included the development of a desktop study, and all related permits, authorizations, and reporting for field survey. Work under this contact has also included participating in local events, and cultural consultation with the client and North Slope Borough. Updating cultural management plans, and drafting official letters to the State Historic Preservation Office.
Arctic Strategic Transportation and Resources Project (ASTAR)
The ASTAR project is an initiative of the ADNR, in partnership with the North Slope Borough (NSB), to identify, evaluate, and advance community infrastructure and regional connectivity projects which offer the greatest cumulative benefits to the North Slope region. Under the ASTAR project, AES Alaska led a team of sub-consultants to provide a wide variety of services for the ADNR including: regional transportation planning, economic analysis, workforce development planning, preliminary engineering and route analyses for roads and bridges, permitting support, geologic terrain unit and geohazard mapping, geographic information services (GIS) data compilation, stakeholder outreach, strategic planning, and developing a new method to evaluate and prioritize projects based on derived benefits.
For preliminary engineering and route analyses, AES Alaska identified and evaluated alternative routes for gravel roads between the communities of Wainwright, Atqasuk, Utqiagvik, and Nuiqsut, and for connecting existing road infrastructure on the east side of the Colville River with isolated roads on the west side. AES Alaska provided a multi-discipline team of engineering, cultural, and environmental professionals to evaluate the benefits of each corridor alternative as well as land status, hydrology, geology, existing and proposed infrastructure, engineering, cultural and paleontological resources, subsistence use areas, fish and wildlife, and estimated cost. The team performed multicriteria decision analysis, comparing each corridor alternative in a weighted decision matrix. AES Alaska prepared a series of reports documenting the studies, including conclusions, recommendations, and follow-on studies to fill data gaps during subsequent phases of the project.
AES Alaska staff and sub-consultants used digital terrain models, satellite imagery, borehole data, and a variety of existing maps and reports to develop detailed terrain unit maps for over 31,362 square miles of the North Slope at 1:30,000, an area nearly the size of South Carolina. The new maps are a vast improvement over existing maps of the area, and in addition to numerous terrain units, they identify potential geohazards and potential sources of granular materials. The Division of Geologic and Geophysical Services will publish the maps later this year for public use.