HURRICANE - Dozens of people from Putnam and Cabell counties attended an open house Tuesday night to learn more about Mountaineer Xpress pipeline, a proposed interstate project that would carry gas from Marshall County to Cabell County.
The meeting was hosted by Columbia Pipeline Group, the company behind several proposed regional interstate pipeline projects, including the Mountaineer Xpress, the Leach Xpress and WB Xpress pipelines.
Residents from across the region, some of whom would have the Mountaineer Xpress pipeline running through their backyards, were able to speak with staff and contractors from Columbia Pipeline Group about the siting, construction and federal regulatory process. Tuesday's meeting was the last of six open houses that were held in several counties along the proposed route over the past week.
The Mountaineer Xpress pipeline, which was submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for preliminary review on Aug. 26, would cost $2 billion to build 165 miles of large-diameter pipeline that could carry 2.7 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
If created, the project, along with several other interstate pipelines that would carry natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale regions of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, are expected to help restart the state's slumping gas industry.
The pipeline is expected to cut through Putnam County before ending in Cabell County. The current route will take the pipeline under the Kanawha River between Eleanor and Buffalo, and under Interstate 64 between the Milton and Hurricane exits.
Many of the people who attended the meeting in Hurricane were more concerned with how the pipeline would affect their personal property.
Dave Morton was contacted several times by Columbia Pipeline Group over the past couple months, but he showed up Tuesday to see what else he could learn about the pipeline that would run along the edge of his Cabell County property.
After talking with engineers and project directors, Morton said he found out that the company would need to build an access road through his 43 acres of land to build the pipeline. Morton, a farmer, said the access road would cross straight through one of his hay fields.
As the open house went on, Columbia Pipeline Group's staff were able to educate residents on the basics of the pipeline, and were able to use geographic information system mapping, powered by Google, to zoom in on individual properties.
Tim Anderson, an environmental scientist contracting with Columbia Pipeline Group, said the company is still in the process of surveying the proposed pipeline's route and preparing to conduct environmental impact assessments that are required by federal regulators.
Anderson said the conversations that staff members had with property owners at the open houses would help the company to better plan the route. Depending on what information was presented to company officials, Anderson said company officials could make "micro changes" to the route to meet the needs of landowners.
Steve Stowers, also of Cabell County, said he just wanted to make sure that his son's home wouldn't be affected by the pipeline. Stowers said that his cattle farm would be located on the adjacent hill from the pipeline, but that he wasn't concerned about its construction as long as he was not directly affected.
Reach Andrew Brown at andrew.brown@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4814, or follow @Andy_Ed_Brown.