Steel pipe is already being stockpiled in Upshur County to be used for a 50-mile natural gas gathering pipeline that would run through the area.
BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — A planned 50-mile natural gas gathering pipeline running from Harrison County to Braxton County could bring as many as 800 construction workers to the area, officials said.
The pipeline will be constructed by Stonewall Gas Gathering LLC, a subsidiary of Momentum, which has locations in Texas, Colorado, West Virginia and Ohio and has made a number of investments in transmission and gathering assets along the Marcellus and Utica shales.
Wisconsin-based Precision Pipeline has signed on to handle construction for the project.
Ryan McKone, Precision’s vice president of project management, said the company anticipates having 700-800 people working on the project.
“We’ll have an impact on the local economy, given the hotels, the restaurants, all the stores,” McKone said. “So it is definitely a big impact.”
Mike Ross, a well-known natural gas operator in the area and principal of Mike Ross Inc., said construction on the 36-inch-diameter pipeline could begin as early as March, depending on the weather.
Ross said the heavy-duty steel pipe for the project is already being stockpiled near the intersection of U.S. 33 and Brushy Fork Road near Buckhannon.
Dave Mashek, a Momentum spokesman, said the pipeline — which he dubbed the Stonewall Gathering System — will pick up gas starting in northern Harrison County and travel south into Braxton County…
