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There are several things about California's Kern County that an outsider would naturally associate with The Golden State. Its early history includes Native Americans followed by Spanish settlers who in turn were rolled into America's westward movement. There was a gold rush in 1853 and an earthquake in 1857 so large that it made church bells ring in Los Angeles, 115 miles away. And like much of rural California, Kern County boasts ultra-productive farmland. The third-largest county in the state, it cranks out $1.5 billion a year in agricultural products, led by grapes, citrus fruits, cotton, milk, almonds and pistachio nuts. What many wouldn't associate with California is Kern County's oil production - yes, oil production. The county has a hundred-year history of fueling the world from its rich oil and natural gas resources. Shortly after oil was discovered in a hand-dug well on the west bank of the Kern River in 1899, wooden derricks in the area produced seven out of every 10 barrels of oil that came from California and by 1903 had made California the top oil-producing state in the United States. Kern County oil wells still contribute 10 percent of the nation's oil production and 1 percent of the world's. The county produces 66 percent of California's crude oil - 33,000 of California's 43,000 oil-producing wells are located there - and pumps roughly 570,000 barrels of oil a day. ENERGY EVERYWHERE A century after it got into the oil-production business, Kern County now is involved in a big way on a different energy front: production of electricity. In the early 1990s, Californians were paying nearly 50 percent more on average for electricity than the rest of the country. To drive consumer costs down, the state deregulated the electrical market in 1996. But a combination of factors collided in unexpected fashion, leading to skyrocketing wholesale prices and energy shortages. California became known for its rolling blackouts in 2001 as it flirted with an energy crisis. To resolve the situation, the state - in addition to urging energy conservation measures - resolved to build new power plants to relieve the situation. Unlike several of the state's heavily populated coastal areas, Kern County's population of 662,000 is open to energy development, with many viewing it simply as part of a long history of energy production. While civic groups defeated power plants in San Jose, South Gate and San Diego, Kern County approved five new plants with planned production of 5,000 megawatts - enough to offset what the state had been importing. The first to open - and California's first new power facility in 13 years - was the Sunrise Power Plant, a natural-gas-fed facility about 35 miles from the county seat of Bakersfield. Natural gas will also fuel Sunrise II, an upgrade to the existing facility scheduled to go online this summer. Sunrise II is a joint venture between Edison Mission Energy and Texaco Power & Gasification Holdings. Built with a sense of urgency when rolling blackouts in California were in the national news, the first phase of the Sunrise plant was operational in a record six and a half months after construction started in December 2000. The $180 million facility was completed 32 days early - before the peak summer power season. Black & Veatch Corp. of Kansas City, Missouri, has served as the general contractor for the original plant construction and the expansion, providing engineering, procurement, and construction services for the plant, a plant substation, and 10.5 miles of transmission lines to connect to the local grid. The $28 million Sunrise II project, started in December 2001, will convert the original plant from a 320-megawatt-capacity gas-fired plant into a combined-cycle plant with a 585 megawatt capacity. In a combined-cycle plant, gas powers a combustion turbine similar to a jet engine, and excess heat from that process makes steam that powers a more traditional generator. Converting to a combined-cycle plant will substantially improve the plant's capacity and efficiency. A LINE OF AMERICAN DUCTILE IRON PIPE An important part of Sunrise II includes $14.4 million for pipelines providing water for the plant's operations. As part of that work, American Cast Iron Pipe Company has supplied the West Kern Water District with more than 13 miles of ductile iron pipe in diameters ranging from 8 to 48 inches. On a separate contract for piping to upgrade pump stations in the water district, AMERICAN supplied 440 tons of ductile iron pipe in 18- to 36-inch diameters. The WKWD, which primarily serves customers in the oil and energy industries, specifies ductile iron pipe for all water main construction. AMERICAN Ductile Iron pipe proved to be an excellent construction material in the area's desert-like terrain. The soil is extremely dry and flour-like and had to be mixed with water to be properly compacted. AMERICAN's pipe strength stood up to heavy excavators, compaction equipment, and motor patrols over that soil. "The most difficult challenge to this project was backfill of the native soils," said John Heisler, division manager with one of the contractors on the project, ARB Inc. of Lake Forest, California. "Thankfully, we were using a pipe material that allowed us to cross it during the backfill process without worry of crushing it prior to getting full compaction." AMERICAN Ductile Iron pipe also lent itself to quick and easy installment, especially with the arrangement that ARB incorporated. "In order to speed the assembly of pipe connections, we chose a side-boom, pipe-laying caterpillar to hoist the pipe into place using a 40-foot boom and pipe calipers," Heisler said. "We set a small crawler in the ditch to smooth the bottom and to push the pipe segments together. In using this combination and working four 10-hour days per week, we were able to see production rates of up to 1,400 linear feet per day. "AMERICAN provided excellent service regarding the delivery of materials, and in fact got us the material we needed so we could finish the job early and under budget. They went the extra mile to make sure we had all of the parts and pieces we needed throughout the construction cycle." From the perspective of contractor W.M. Lyles, the primary benefit of AMERICAN Ductile Iron pipe was the quality of its construction. "While testing the various pipe sizes that were installed on this project, we were very pleased that the pipe tested at the specified pressures," said Thomas Murray, a field engineer with W.M. Lyles. "The actual leak rate for the AMERICAN pipe was very minimal to none. The benefits of quality-constructed pipe and the restrained joints specified for this job were most useful because we were working in active pump stations and in, around, and under existing piping with up to 13 feet of cover on the new piping."

More than 13 miles of AMERICAN pipe in diameters ranging from 8-inch through 48-inch were installed during the Sunrise II project in Kern County. Part of that is shown here ready for installation. The project required an additional 440 tons of restrained joint pipe and fittings. PHOTO COURTESY OF ARB, INC. Setting a steady pace, workers in the trench prepare to set another piece of AMERICAN Ductile Iron pipe into place. A side-boom, pipe-laying caterpillar was used to hoist the pipe into place using a 40-foot boom and pipe calipers. A small crawler was set in the ditch to smooth the bottom and to push the pipe segments together. The arrangement helped the pipe installation to cover as much as 1,400 feet a day. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN WILSON A piece of AMERICAN large-diameter Ductile Iron pipe with a welded-on outlet is shown prior to its installation. The West Kern Water District, which primarily serves customers in the oil and energy industries, specifies ductile iron pipe for all water main construction. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN WILSON

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