Four Interstate Pipelines Proposed for Gas from WV & OH Area

Billion-Dollar Projects To ‘Become the Norm’  —

Local Gas Will Be Transported By Four Interstate Pipelines

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, October 26, 2014

Moundsville, WV — As natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale region increases, the next issue is getting the gas to market. That’s where the pipelines come in.

In the past few months, along with a number of smaller projects to complete the interconnection of pipelines in our local region, four major pipeline projects have been announced. Combined, these massive interstate projects will cost up to $15 billion to build and provide thousands of construction jobs.

The pipelines – the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Rover Pipeline, Mountain Valley Pipeline and Leach XPress – will take gas from our area and other nearby regions and send it to various markets across the country. It also will open up more drilling opportunities.

“They need to have somewhere to take all of this gas,” said Tim Greene, owner of Land and Mineral Management of Appalachia and a former WV Department of Environmental Protection oil and gas inspector. “They are going north, south, east and west. And more pipelines will lead to more drilling all across the state.”

The Projects –

In just the last few months alone, developers have confirmed four interstate pipeline projects that will fall under the auspices of both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. All are at different points in the permitting and construction phases.

>>> Atlantic Coast Pipeline — The $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline, developed by Dominion Resources, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources, is planned to be 550 miles long with the 42-inch pipeline diameter.

The pipeline’s proposed route runs southeast through Harrison, Lewis, Upshur, Randolph and Pocahontas counties in West Virginia; southeast across central Virginia to the border of North Carolina; and south through North Carolina to Robeson County, just north of the South Carolina border. Pipelines from Tyler County will connect to this project.

>>> Rover Pipeline — The $4.3 billion Rover Pipeline, developed by ET Rover Co., will be able to transport up to 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Its proposed route includes a 36-inch pipeline running from Doddridge County, W.Va., north through Tyler County, under the Ohio River to Monroe County, and north to connect with a 42-inch pipeline running from Noble County, Ohio through northern Monroe County.

This 42-inch line will run from the Clarington area, north through Belmont County. At this point, a 24-inch pipeline that travels west and under the Ohio River from Marshall County will connect with the 42-inch line in the Jacobsburg area of Belmont County. From there, the 42-inch line heads northwest through the St. Clairsville area and into Harrison County.

The 42-inch line continues north into Carroll County.  At that point, the 42-inch line will collect gas from a 36-inch line running west from northern Washington County, Pa., through Hancock County, under the Ohio River, and across Jefferson and Harrison counties. From that point, the map shows the Rover Pipeline will cut northwest across the Ohio countryside until it reaches the company’s Midwest hub in Defiance, Ohio. From there, the line continues north into Michigan.

>>> Leach Xpress — A map shows the 36-inch diameter Leach XPress, at a cost of $1.75 billion to developer NiSource Inc., will ship dry methane natural gas southwest from a Majorsville compressor station in Marshall County to the Ohio River, west under the Ohio River to an area near Clarington in Monroe County, west across areas of Monroe, Noble, Muskingum, Morgan, Perry and Hocking counties in southeast Ohio to an area near Lancaster, Ohio, due south from the area near Lancaster to another crossing of the Ohio River and finally to a compressor station in Ceredo, W.Va., near Huntington.

“Historically, we have always drawn gas from the south. Now, we can send oil and gas produced in this area to the south,” Zane Daniels, spokesman for NiSource subsidiary Columbia Pipeline Group, said. “This is the missing link in the chain.”

>>> Mountain Valley Pipeline — The $3-plus billion Mountain Valley Pipeline, developed by EQT Corp., would run 330 miles south from the MarkWest Energy Mobley complex in Wetzel County to the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co. Zone 5 compressor station 165 in Virginia.

The project map shows the Mountain Valley would run south through Wetzel, Harrison, Lewis, Braxton, Webster, Nicholas, Greenbrier, Summers and Monroe counties in West Virginia as it reaches the Virginia border.

What Landowners Should Know

Accompanying any interstate pipeline will be compressor stations, which can produce air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde. Companies typically place compressor stations every 40 to 100 miles along the line to propel the gas toward its destination.

Tim Greene said surface owners who are asked to sign right-of-way agreements to allow the pipelines on their property should know their rights. “Don’t just take their word for it. Do the research,” Greene said. “Make sure you are getting a fair deal. Be careful what you sign.”

Tagged as: Atlantic Coast Pipeline, compressor stations, drilling, fracking, interstate pipelines, land disturbances, marcellus shale, natural gas, OH, pipelines, right of way, wv