Change in Direction for One Leg of Mountaineer Gas Pipe in WV
In 2017, Mountaineer Gas launched the Eastern Panhandle Expansion pipeline project–a project to deliver natural gas via local distribution channels to a new industrial facility in Berkeley County, WV, and to provide gas to other local businesses and residents in the Tri-State area. Mountaineer’s pipeline expansion will be fed by a 3.5-mile Columbia Gas pipeline under the Potomac River. There are three phases to the Eastern Panhandle Expansion project: Phase One runs a 22.5-mile, 10-inch-diameter steel pipeline from Morgan County to Martinsburg; Phase Two includes a loop to Charles Town; and Phase Three will build a four mile segment of pipeline into Martinsburg. Phase One began construction in March (see Mountaineer Gas Begins Work on Morgan County, WV Pipeline). By all accounts, Phase One is close to being done. Phase Two is up next. There is some confusion (for us) over what was and was not filed by Mountaineer with respect to this project. It appears there was no official Phase Two request previously filed, that Mountaineer’s approach all along has been to run pipelines where the opportunities crop up, filing for permission as circumstances warrant. Since the project was first announced, there’s been a new opportunity. Although Phase Two was originally forecast to run to Charles Town (Jefferson County), that’s now changed–to run to Ranson (also Jefferson County) instead, to feed gas to a new $150 million manufacturing plant being built…
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Jefferson County, WV has been working for the last 30 years to get natural gas piped into the community. Jefferson is on the cusp of seeing that long-time dream turn into reality–if anti fossil-fuelers in Maryland don’t screw it all up. In April, MDN brought you the news that Columbia Pipeline (now owned by TransCanada) has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build a 3.5 mile, 8-inch pipeline that will carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to connect the Mountaineer Gas system in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia with the Columbia Gas Pipeline in Pennsylvania (see 
West Virginia’s largest natural gas LDC (local distribution company) is Mountaineer Gas–with 220,000 customers, 450 employees and servicing 49 of WV’s 55 counties. Mountaineer Gas maintains close to 6,000 miles of pipeline. They’d like to add another 56 miles of pipelines to that number. Mountaineer has filed an application with the WV Public Service Commission to build a $45 million expansion of their distribution network in Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties (the eastern panhandle of WV). Why? To deliver more Marcellus Shale gas to industrial customers who want to build manufacturing plants in the region. There is some natural gas in the area now–but not nearly enough. The new lines, which are not high pressure transmission lines but low pressure distribution lines, would bump up the volume of gas and deliver it to locations where new plants want to build. Local economic development people are excited as this provides a foundation for long-term growth in the region. Below are the details of Mountaineer’s application, along with a copy of the official paperwork they’ve filed with the WV PSC…