Feds Approve Construction of Interstate Gas Pipeline

A federal agency has approved construction plans for one of the major natural gas pipelines planned in the region. The 4.2 billion dollar Rover pipeline project is slated to begin phase one of construction this year.

The 510-mile, interstate Rover pipeline is designed to move 3.25 billion cubic feet of Marcellus and Utica shale gas from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio to Michigan. Despite objections by landowners in Ohio and the Sierra Club, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says the market benefits of the 42-inch pipeline “outweigh any adverse effects … on landowners and surrounding communities.”

About a quarter of the planned path is along existing pipeline corridors, and the agency’s approval means the company may claim eminent domain for other sections of the route. The mainline would start in Monroe County, Ohio, with branches stretching into West Virginia’s Doddridge and Ohio counties, and across Hancock County into Pennsylvania.

Several other pipelines are still waiting for federal approval, including the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline.