Builders picked for east coast pipeline as foes fight project

Price Gregory International, U.S. Pipeline, SMPC and Rockford Corp., operating as Spring Ridge Contractors, were picked as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline contractor. The line, from West Virginia through Virginia and North Carolina, would transport fracked gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale regions by 2019. Design, which includes three compressor stations, is set to finish by December, says Dominion Energy, one of four developers. With a 48% stake, it will build and operate the line, claiming regional natural-gas demand will rise 165% in 20 years. Two 16- in lines would supply Dominion's newly completed Brunswick power station and to the Greensville station now under construction. A 20-in lateral would serve the Hampton Roads area in Virginia. The Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club has asked the Federal Trade Commission to look at the possible conflicts of interest of an electric utility owning a gas pipeline. The 301-mile Mountain Valley pipeline proposed by a joint venture of six companies including Con Edison Gas, Next Era and WGL, also would transport gas from West Virginia to the point in southern Virginia where the Transco mainline would flow south. The WB Xpress project, an $850 million proposal by Columbia Pipeline would deliver 1.3 bcf/day to the mid Atlantic.