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A Texas company is maneuvering to construct a pipeline to carry Marcellus Shale natural gas across Pennsylvania on a path that would pass through Somerset and Bedford counties.
The Atlantic Access Project, a proposed 258-mile pipeline using 36-inch pipe, would move fuel from the rich Marcellus gas fields of western Pennsylvania and the panhandle of West Virginia to eastern gas-hungry markets.
“We are early, early in this process,” Christopher Stockton, a spokesman for Houston-based Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co., said Tuesday.
New federal rules for gas lines adopted
The company filed a pre-application, which amounts to a request for a review of project plans, with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“It’s a big project,” Stockton said. “It will require a lot of input from a lot of people, agencies and organizations.”
The project could cost $1 billion, according to information from U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster. The Hollidaysburg-based Republican is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.
Stockton said the company, commonly referred to as Transco, is owned by The Williams Co. Inc. and does not have a final figure on the project’s estimated cost.
“It will be easily be in excess of $1 billion,” he said.
When the pipeline is completed, it would carry 1,350,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day – or enough energy to provide winter heat for 1,350,000 homes for one day, according to calculations by Penn State’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.
Affected municipalities
* In Somerset County:
Allegheny, Black, Brothersvalley, Lower Turkeyfoot, Middlecreek, Milford and Upper Turkeyfoot townships.
• In Bedford County:
Bedford, Colerain, Cumberland Valley, East Providence, Harrison, Juniata and Monroe townships.
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