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Calhoun County officials, TransCanada reps break ground for compressor station

Photo Provided Representatives from the Calhoun County Commission and TransCanada stand in the snow and cold for a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday at the site of the White Oak Compressor Station in Calhoun County. The $94 million station is one of three compressor operations planned in the $2 billion, 165-mile Mountaineer XPress Pipeline. From left, Tim Chambers of TransCanada, Earl Vineyard of TransCanada, Commissioner Michael Hicks, Matthew Franklin of TransCanada, Commissioner Scottie “Chip” Westfall II, Brittany Carns of TransCanada and Commission President Kevin Helmick.

GRANTSVILLE — Despite cold and snow, Calhoun County commissioners and representatives of a natural gas development company broke ground Tuesday for a $100 million compressor station for the Mountaineer XPress pipeline.

TransCanada, parent company of Columbia Gas Transmission, is building the $2 billion, 165-mile Mountaineer XPress Pipeline from Marshall County to Cabell County that includes the White Oak Compressor Station in Calhoun County and the Mount Olive and Sherwood stations in Jackson and Doddridge counties, respectively. The three stations will cost $300 million, according to the company.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Agency approved the Gulf XPress Pipeline in December. The Mountaineer XPress will go through Marshall, Wetzel, Doddridge, Ritchie, Calhoun, Wirt, Roane, Jackson, Putnam and Cabell counties and will transport natural gas from West Virginia to other U.S. markets.

“This is the most important development for our economy since the discovery of oil and natural gas reserves, and we welcome TransCanada with open arms,” Kevin Helmick, Calhoun County Commission president, said.

Calhoun County commissioners were so excited, they asked TransCanada to take part in a ground breaking. Construction of the compressor stations may start around the end of the month.

“After three years of continuing negotiations, meetings and phone calls, we have arrived at this moment, the beginning of a new era for Calhoun County,” Helmick said.

Rural counties like Calhoun County have struggled with declining tax bases and more demands from the state, he said.

“This struggle gets harder and harder every year,” Helmick said. “For those reasons, the White Oak Compressor Station and the Mountaineer XPress Pipeline mean so much for the continued future of Calhoun County into the 21st Century.”

Construction of the pipeline is expected to create thousands of jobs, either directly on the pipeline or indirectly with companies supplying services such as restaurants, living places and gasoline stations.

Officials in Jackson County were tasked with finding living accommodations for 1,700 people who will be working on the pipeline and campsites have popped up all around Doddridge County where pipeline workers dock their campers and live.

A conservative estimate for additional tax revenue is more than $1 million a year for county government and schools in Calhoun County alone.

“I’d like to show my appreciation for TransCanada’s investment in our community,” County Commissioner Scottie “Chip” Westfall II said. “I am not merely talking about the dollar investment that will be provided with the White Oak Compressor Station, the Mountaineer XPress Pipeline, and the many jobs and economic development that will come from this project.”

TransCanada has become a community partner, he said. It has already donated $12,500 on behalf of the commission for the Calhoun County Park, Westfall said.

“We have spent three years working hard together to make this project happen, and we now look forward to a continuing partnership for the future,” he said.

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