CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Chelyan residents met with Dominion representatives Monday evening to learn about a new natural-gas pipeline and compressor station the company plans to build in the area.

About 25 people attended an open house the company sponsored at Riverside High School in Belle. Dominion Transmission hopes to start building the facilities in summer 2011 as part of its Appalachian Gateway Project, a $600-million plan to transport natural gas produced in West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern markets.

In Kanawha County, Dominion plans to build 5.2 miles of 20-inch pipeline running south from Chelyan. That line would run through the property of one private landowner and two coal companies, Dominion representatives at the open house said. 

The Richmond, Va.-based company also wants to build a new compressor station, where natural gas is compressed as it moves it along a pipeline, on land it already owns off Exit 85 on the West Virginia Turnpike.

Dominion officials say the amount of natural gas available in the Appalachian region has grown with the Marcellus Shale Formation - one of the richest natural-gas basins in America - and overall increased production in the area. 

"Basically, there's a bottleneck of the ability to get gas out of West Virginia," said company spokesman Bob Fulton. "So this will help alleviate some of those bottlenecks."

The total project would involve 110 miles of new pipeline in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.  In West Virginia, Dominion also has proposed three compressor stations in addition to the one in Chelyan. Those would be built in Harrison, Wetzel and Marshall counties.

Dominion is still in the "pre-filing" process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Fulton said. It plans to apply for FERC approval in June 2010, with hopes of having the pipelines ready for service by September 2012.

Chelyan resident Max Stanley said he stopped by the open house to ask about noise and safety issues at the compressor station, but added that he is not too concerned about the project. 

"There was a compressor station there for years when I was growing up in Chelyan," he said, "and we never had any problems."

He and his son-in-law, Jim Poore, who live about a half-mile from the proposed facility, also wanted to know whether the project would bring jobs to the area.

Dominion expects the Chelyan-area project to generate at least 200 temporary jobs for welders, backhoe operators, general laborers and construction inspectors, said Carole McCoy, a manager of engineering projects for the company.

Officials said they don't know whether it will create any permanent jobs in the area.

Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Chelyan residents met with Dominion representatives Monday evening to learn about a new natural-gas pipeline and compressor station the company plans to build in the area.

About 25 people attended an open house the company sponsored at Riverside High School in Belle. Dominion Transmission hopes to start building the facilities in summer 2011 as part of its Appalachian Gateway Project, a $600-million plan to transport natural gas produced in West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern markets.

In Kanawha County, Dominion plans to build 5.2 miles of 20-inch pipeline running south from Chelyan. That line would run through the property of one private landowner and two coal companies, Dominion representatives at the open house said. 

The Richmond, Va.-based company also wants to build a new compressor station, where natural gas is compressed as it moves it along a pipeline, on land it already owns off Exit 85 on the West Virginia Turnpike.

Dominion officials say the amount of natural gas available in the Appalachian region has grown with the Marcellus Shale Formation - one of the richest natural-gas basins in America - and overall increased production in the area. 

"Basically, there's a bottleneck of the ability to get gas out of West Virginia," said company spokesman Bob Fulton. "So this will help alleviate some of those bottlenecks."

The total project would involve 110 miles of new pipeline in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.  In West Virginia, Dominion also has proposed three compressor stations in addition to the one in Chelyan. Those would be built in Harrison, Wetzel and Marshall counties.

Dominion is still in the "pre-filing" process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Fulton said. It plans to apply for FERC approval in June 2010, with hopes of having the pipelines ready for service by September 2012.

Chelyan resident Max Stanley said he stopped by the open house to ask about noise and safety issues at the compressor station, but added that he is not too concerned about the project. 

"There was a compressor station there for years when I was growing up in Chelyan," he said, "and we never had any problems."

He and his son-in-law, Jim Poore, who live about a half-mile from the proposed facility, also wanted to know whether the project would bring jobs to the area.

Dominion expects the Chelyan-area project to generate at least 200 temporary jobs for welders, backhoe operators, general laborers and construction inspectors, said Carole McCoy, a manager of engineering projects for the company.

Officials said they don't know whether it will create any permanent jobs in the area.

Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.