Mountaineer Gas Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

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Mountaineer Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia. It is part of the Eastern Panhandle Expansion.

Location

The pipeline will run from Berkley, Virginia to Martinsburg, West Virginia, with an additional loop around Charleston, West Virginia.

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Project Details

• Owner: IGS Utilities
• Proposed capacity:
• Length: 90.8 kilometers / 56.4 miles
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2019

Background

The pipeline is scheduled to be constructed in three phases. The first phase will be 27.5 miles long and run from Berkley, Virginia, USA to Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA. The second phase will add a 24.5 miles loop around Charleston, West Virginia. The third phase will add an additional 4.4 miles.

In January 2019, a board of high-ranking Maryland officials on Wednesday rejected a proposed pipeline across the western part of the state that would carry natural gas produced in Pennsylvania to West Virginia. The Board of Public Works voted 3-0 against an easement for TransCanada’s pipeline. It would run under the Potomac River near Hancock, Maryland, and extend about 3 miles from Columbia Gas’ network in Pennsylvania to Mountaineer Gas’ distribution system in West Virginia. In May of 2019, the company, owned by Alberta-based TC Energy, filed a federal lawsuit against the state to gain access to state property to drill a pipeline under the Western Maryland Rail Trail. The state’s attorney general has moved to dismiss the suit, saying the Constitution does not allow a federal court to order a state to grant an easement in cases like this. In June of 2019, 62 Maryland lawmakers signed an open letter opposing an effort by Columbia Gas Transmission to build a three-and-a-half mile long fracked-gas pipeline under public lands in the western part of the state.

Opposition

A proposed extension of the Mountaineer Gas Pipeline proposal would cut through Jefferson County to supply a new industrial park near Charles Town. At the moment, the only customer is the Rockwool mineral wool factory, which has just begun construction under a cloud of controversy. Opponents of Rockwool are incensed that local and state governments subverted the county’s comprehensive plan, manipulated zoning codes and negotiated generous tax breaks and subsidies in secrecy. They object to the polluting emissions the plant would produce close to four schools and the potential for water contamination and catastrophic accidents.

The pipeline runs as close as 35 feet to some homes, and 80 homes are within the 150-foot blast radius. Mountaineer Gas took two families to court to get eminent domain. One of those sued, the Keseckers, own a 100-acre farm in Berkeley County. The pipeline cuts right through the middle. They can’t plant on it, must continue to pay property taxes on the land and are liable for damages to the pipeline. Pipeline opponents say laying pipe is more dangerous in the Eastern Panhandle because of its special geology called karst, a unique geological formation that acts as a rocky sponge. Pipeline companies have up until now purposely avoided building in karst. Leaking and explosions are more likely to happen in karst geology because of the instability of the terrain. Water contamination is also a distinct possibility when building a pipeline in karst.

In August of 2019, a federal judge in Maryland threw out a lawsuit that would have overruled Maryland state officials who had previously banned the project. The company had sought access to Maryland property through eminent domain, but the board of state officials rejected the proposed pipeline across 3 miles (4 kilometers) of western Maryland, and the company then took the matter to federal court.