Mountaineer Gas Company is proposing a natural gas line that will run from Pennsylvania through Berkeley Springs and on into Martinsburg to service a number of growing corporate outlets there, including the new Procter & Gamble facility.
In a filing with the West Virginia Public Service Commission, Mountaineer Gas says it’s proposed project “will enhance the reliability of the natural gas supply serving the company’s Martinsburg service area, respond to the developing need to provide or expand service to several large commercial customers and housing developments, and create new opportunities to expand service into underserved and unserved areas.”
“Procter & Gamble recently announced its intent to build a large facility in Martinsburg, and the company has received requests for service from other potential high-load customers. In addition, several economic development groups have approached the company about expanding natural gas service in the Eastern Panhandle. The company seeks to increase the gas supply into this area to facilitate these important economic development efforts, to provide service to additional residential and small commercial customers in its existing service area, and to extend service to currently unserved areas.”
In an exhibit to the filing, Mountaineer Gas lays out a proposed route for the line, coming south from Potomac River parallel to US 522 and then cutting east in Berkeley Springs to the Berkeley County line.
Mountaineer Gas says that the project will be divided into three segments.
One segment is the installation of approximately 27.5 miles of distribution trunk line, beginning at a new interconnect in Morgan County with a new transmission line from Columbia Gas Transmission and extending to the northern end of the company’s distribution system serving the Martinsburg area.
The second segment is the installation of approximately 24.5 miles of distribution trunk line from the southeast side of Martinsburg to Charles Town, then back west to the company’s existing system in Middleway that serves a single commercial customer, and then northeast to Kearneysville.
The third segment is the installation of approximately 4.4 miles of distribution trunk line from the east side of Martinsburg to Shepherdstown.