Tag: Columbia Gas Transmission

Pipeline Company to Pay $122K for Environmental Violations

A company building a natural gas pipeline in West Virginia has agreed to pay $122,350 for environmental violations.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail cited a consent order made public Monday in reporting that Columbia Gas Transmission agreed to pay the amount to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for 16 violations while building the Mountaineer Xpress Pipeline.

Columbia Gas Transmission is a subsidiary of TransCanada and will operate the Mountaineer Xpress Pipeline when it’s completed.

TransCanada spokesman Scott Castleman said the company implemented measures to address each environmental issue as it arose and has accepted the draft consent order.

The pipeline is one of many being built in the region and would run 170 miles (274 kilometers) from Marshall County to Wayne County.

Proposed Pipeline Accepted for Pre-Application Review

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will review a proposed $2 billion natural gas pipeline in West Virignia before the developer formally submits an application.

The commission notified Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC last week that it accepted the Mountaineer Xpress Project for the pre-filing review process.

Parent companies Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. and Columbia Pipeline Partners LP said Wednesday that an application will be filed with the federal commission in April 2016. If the pipeline is approved, construction would begin in the fall of 2017.

The pipeline would run about 165 miles from Marshall County to Wayne County. The companies say in a news release that the pipeline would give producers in the Marcellus and Utica shale areas new options to transport gas into the interstate market.

Property Owners Sue Over 2012 Sissonville Pipeline Blast

NiSource Inc. and two subsidiaries are being sued by two Sissonville property owners over a 2012 natural gas pipeline rupture and explosion.
 
John Hampton Tinney and his sister, Elizabeth Tinney Garten, allege in their lawsuit that the explosion rendered their property “valueless” and ruined their chances to sell it.
 
The lawsuit names as defendants NiSource, Columbia Pipeline Group Services Co., Columbia Gas Transmission and several employees.
 
The defendants denied the allegations in their responses to the lawsuit. They say the lawsuit didn’t state a claim for which relief could be granted. They also say the damage was caused by preexisting or unrelated events.
 
The Charleston Daily Mail reports that the lawsuit was filed in early February in Kanawha County Circuit Court, and the responses were filed last week.
 

Report: W.Va. Taxes Natural Gas Drilling Four Times as Much as Pa.

A new report from a nonpartisan office of the Pennsylvania Legislature says its state’s taxes on the natural gas drilling boom are among the lowest in the nation.

The figures released Thursday by the Independent Fiscal Office found that Pennsylvania is the only state with significant production that doesn’t impose a severance tax based on the volume of gas produced.

 
The report found that a Pennsylvania well that began producing in 2014 will be taxed at an effective tax rate of no more than 1.6 percent, and perhaps less than half of that.

By comparison, a similar well in West Virginia will be taxed at over seven percent.

 
The Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, says the analysis is flawed because it doesn’t include other factors, such as corporate taxes.

NTSB Determines Cause of December 2012 Sissonville Pipeline Explosion

Federal investigators have determined the cause of a Colombia Gas Transmission pipeline explosion in West Virginia in December 2012.

In a report released Monday, the National Transportation Safety Board said the explosion was caused by external corrosion and a lack of recent inspections. The agency said the corrosion could have been discovered by the pipeline operator.

On December 11, 2012, a 20-inch high-pressure natural gas pipeline running through Sissonville, West Virginia ruptured with so much force that a 20-foot-long segment of pipe was thrown more than 40 feet from where it had been buried.

The released natural gas ignited and burned so hot that it charred 800 feet of roadway along nearby Interstate 77, destroyed three homes, and melted the siding on houses hundreds of feet from the rupture site.

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