The pipeline cutting across Ohio will not only be transporting natural gas but also pumping money into
the state’s economy, according to a spokesman for the pipeline company.
"All that money stays in Ohio. No money is sent to countries that don’t like us very much,"
said Allen Fore, director of community relations for Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, the company planning
to build the pipeline.
Fore talked about the proposed project Thursday to members of the Bowling Green Rotary Club. He stressed
the difference between this pipeline and others – with this one planning to transport energy from this
region of the country, the Marcellus Shale. Typically, Ohio is at the receiving end of pipelines, he
said. "Now you can be the sellers."
The proposed gasline is intended to stretch from West Virginia to Fulton County, Ohio, where it will hook
into an existing line. An estimated 2,500 jobs will be created by construction of the $520 million
pipeline, with digging to start as soon as this summer.
Those workers will be living, eating and shopping in the region as the pipeline is constructed, Fore
said.
The pipeline will travel about 240 total miles, with 23.4 of those cutting across Wood County. As
proposed, the pipeline enters the county by crossing under U.S. 23, just southeast of Bradner. The route
then travels northwest through Freedom Township, Webster Township, Middleton Township and Washington
Township before crossing under the Maumee River in Lucas County.
In Wood County alone, the proposed route of the pipeline crosses 132 tracts of land, 43 roads and three
railroads.
Landowners along the route have all received letters and were invited to an open house on the project
late last year.
"All the landowners potentially impacted by our project have been contacted," Fore said
Thursday. "We want to be good neighbors from the outset."
The company will work with landowners to get easements, with the landowners being paid for permanent
easements and temporary construction easements, calculated based on the county market appraisals.
The company does not have the authority to take property by eminent domain, but if negotiations fail, the
state gives pipeline companies the ability to "acquire land," according to Fore.
The pipeline company offers agricultural mitigation agreements which require the company to restore the
land to as good or better condition than before the line was buried. Top-soil and sub-soil are kept
separate during construction, and a crop loss program will help compensate farmers for lost profits,
Fore said.
Kinder Morgan, which already has 37,000 miles of pipeline in the U.S., recently completed the
"Rockies Express" pipeline across Central Ohio. That project earned the company praise for the
restoration of properties after construction, Fore said.
"Take a look at our record," he told the Rotarians.
The company has filed its application with the Ohio Siting Board for the line that will travel through
Wood County and hopes to have the pipeline completed by mid-2012.
The 16-inch pipeline would be able to transport 17,000 barrels a day of natural gas liquids. The liquids
are naturally occurring elements found in natural gas, including propane, butane and ethane. Those
elements are used for heating homes, blending with gas and producing plastics.