A natural gas client experienced delays with permit reviews submitted by other consulting firms because of concerns with the quality and reliability of their wetland data. Permit applications submitted by RETTEW for the client did not have similar delays in review. As a result, RETTEW provided quality control (QC) field reviews of stream and wetland data collected by other firms prior to submission with their permit applications. QC reviews involved verification of stream and wetland locations and boundaries, boundary adjustments if appropriate, and additional mapping and data collection for aquatic features that may have been overlooked during the original field investigation.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) encouraged our client to institute a third-party review of their field data when QC first became an issue, and now PA DEP has more confidence in our client’s data quality and reliability because of the field QC program. Improvements in data quality, in response to implementing the field QC procedures, successfully reduced permit review delays and increased operational efficiencies for this natural gas client.