Olympic Re-Lay
By Ken Weiner and Seth Davis
Innovative Techniques in Cable Projects with Regulatory and Environmental Dimensions Reprinted with permission from K&L GATES-NERA GLOBAL TELECOM REVIEW (2008 Edition) Think back to the fiber optic “Space Race” of the 1990s when competing companies raced across the globe placing cables to capture markets for broadband technology. Like the real Space Race, this spin-off technology has been as important as or perhaps more important than the original goal. New projects—from broadband to wave energy— and maintenance on existing facilities must now apply techniques that have emerged from the past decade’s installations. This article discusses the successful use of three of these techniques on a recent fiber optic submarine cable remediation project in the Pacific Northwest. As the fiber optic market cooled down and reorganized, interest began to grow in other roles for submarine cables, such as energy and scientific uses. Two other factors also came into
play during recent years. The earlier cables needed maintenance and sometimes reinstallation because of natural causes or to achieve better protection from “external aggression,” like snagging from fishing activities. Meanwhile, global interest in security, ocean and marine conservation, fisheries, and aboriginal rights resulted in increased regulation.1 New fiber optic cable projects for telecommunications along with cables used for scientific research and conventional and renewable energy development are now being planned or already underway. However, these second-generation projects are being reviewed, approved, and installed in a different regulatory climate than for earlier cables. It is common, for example, to find that cable owners and contractors want to reduce costs by reusing existing cable rather than purchasing expensive new cable. Also,
regulators want reliable assurances that cables that are required to be buried beneath the seabed to avoid conflict with other uses of the seabed, are in fact buried and remain buried.. Moreover, all key interests, owners, contractors, regulators, commercial fishing interests, and First Nations that have protected fishing rights in the project area, want to participate in decisions. Recently, all three of these techniques (recovery and relay of existing cable, touchdown monitoring (TDM), and multiparty on-board decisionmaking) were applied to a single repair project in an environmentally sensitive area: the PC-1 Remediation Project in the U.S. Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary in Washington State. The use of all three techniques on one project would have been unusual in the past, but, for future projects, it might not be unusual for one or more to be required. Each technique was successfully employed in the PC-1 remediation project. At the same time, the participants in this precedent-setting project identified limitations of these techniques and improvements that might be employed in future projects. This article explains how each method was used and the lessons learned for those contemplating using these methods for other projects. A. Project Background The PC-1 remediation project involved the recovery of approximately 120 kilometers of the PC-1 East and North cable systems and the re-laying of the same cable on a slightly modified route in an attempt to improve the burial method. The work was performed in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and in the Pacific Ocean in and adjacent to the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (the Sanctuary).
1 See Weiner, “Ecological Considerations Affecting Offshore Facilities” in the Preston Gates Guide to Telecommunications in Asia, Pacific Telecommunications Council and Preston Gate Ellis, 2006 edition.
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