Natural gas supplier eyes new Murrysville pipeline

Residents in Murrysville could see construction of a 4-mile natural gas pipeline in the municipality as part of an effort by Eastern Gas Transmission and Storage to boost its capacity to supply the fuel.

The Appalachian Reliability Project could begin construction in March 2027, at an estimated cost of $239 million. It’s proposed to go online in the summer of 2028, pending approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Eastern Gas Transmission and Storage (EGTS) said the project was prompted by an increased demand for natural gas in the region. The new pipeline and improvements at other EGTS sites are meant to allow the supplier to tap more of Western Pennsylvania’s natural gas for delivery through an interstate pipeline grid in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

In particular, Cecil Township-­based CNX is looking to increase the amount of gas it can send through the EGTS pipeline network.

The region lacks capacity on days of peak demand for natural gas, EGTS states in its permit application.

According to project documents, the new Murrysville pipeline would run southeast from EGTS’s J.B. Tonkin Compressor Station, at Mamont and Hills Church roads, to a point north of the community of White Valley. Measuring 30 inches in diameter, it would be underground beside existing EGTS lines.

The company’s Delmont Metering & Regulation Station, off Route 22 in Salem, would get new pipe, meters, gas processing equipment and line heaters within the existing footprint of the Oakford Compressor Station located there.

In Armstrong County, a Roaring Run Metering & Regulation Station is proposed — with an interconnect and taps on adjacent existing pipelines, for receipt of gas — near the village of Brownstown in Kiskiminetas Township.

Other work would take place at sites in Greene County and in Ohio’s Monroe County.

Some local officials have cited no concern about the Appalachian Reliability Project. Several politicians and organizations have actively supported it.

Mac McKenna, vice president of Murrysville council, was among officials who went on a tour of EGTS property and part of the route of the proposed new pipeline in that municipality.

“It was a very good tour,” said McKenna. “They told us how things were going to work.

“Once we toured the things along Mamont (Road), they took us out to one of the locations where the pipeline was going. It was very wooded.”

As for any complaints or concerns about the EGTS project, McKenna said, “I haven’t heard a word from any community members.”

“We haven’t heard much from the community so far,” agreed Michael Nestico, Murrysville’s chief administrator. “Thus far, we’ve been supportive of their project. They’ve met with our administrative staff several times, and we haven’t had any immediate concerns.”

Nestico submitted a July 25 letter on behalf of Murrysville, expressing support for the EGTS permit application. He cited the project’s “potential to strengthen regional energy infrastructure, support economic development, and enhance system reliability.”

Project planners held informational open houses April 29 and May 29 at the Murrysville Community Center. Nestico noted he didn’t attend those sessions.

Project specifics

In response to a TribLive inquiry, EGTS said the new Murrysville gas line will serve as “a looping pipeline segment to connect J.B. Tonkin Station, located in Murrysville, with an existing pipeline upstream of an existing metering and regulation facility.”

At the Tonkin site, EGTS intends to install a new 20,500-horsepower natural gas turbine-driven compressor, along with connecting pipes and valves.

Compressors are needed to maintain pressure along a pipeline and keep natural gas flowing. They counteract such pipeline factors as distance, friction and elevation, which can slow the flow of gas.

The new pipeline and multiple site improvements are meant to increase EGTS’s interstate gas transmission capacity by 550,000 dekatherms per day. The gas would be delivered to a Texas Eastern pipeline in Westmoreland County and to a Rockies Express pipeline in Monroe County, Ohio.

A dekatherm is a unit of measurement that expresses the energy content of the gas. One dekatherm equals 1 million British thermal units (Btu); one Btu is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit.

Based on annual average data from 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration calculated that 100 cubic feet of natural gas equals 103,800 Btu, or 1.038 therms.

EGTS notes the completed project would allow it to supply enough extra gas to serve about 5,500 homes, on top of its existing contracted capacity of 8.6 million dekatherms per day.

CNX is an existing primary customer that would be served through the project as it looks to increase the amount of gas it can send through the EGTS pipeline network by an initial 300,000 dekatherms per day, eventually increasing to an additional 500,000 dekatherms per day.

CNX is expected to take part in the construction at the Roaring Run site.

EGTS operates close to 4,000 miles of pipeline in six states: Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. It supplies gas to customers including major utilities and power plants, and to local distribution companies for heating homes and running small businesses.

Demand grows

According to EGTS parent company BHE GT&S, itself a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the annual average natural gas demand in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia increased by 49% between 2015 and 2024, rising from 5.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) to 8.4 Bcfd.

During that period, the power sector’s share of total demand for natural gas grew from 32% to 53%, while the residential, commercial and industrial sectors’ share decreased from 68% to 47%.

Between 2019 and 2023, Pennsylvania saw a 2.4% increase in households using natural gas as their primary heating fuel.

As for safety precautions at its facilities, EGTS said its compressor stations are monitored around the clock and are equipped with automatic emergency shutdown systems.

“On all our job sites, we work together to identify and mitigate conditions, processes and actions that could contribute to accidents or injuries,” the company said. “We communicate the lessons we learn to help keep others across the business safe and provide tools and tactics to help avoid a recurrence.”

Safety lauded

Bob Rosatti, longtime chief of the Forbes Road Volunteer Fire Department in Salem, said his department has had a good working relationship with EGTS and previous incarnations of the company regarding the Delmont M&R site.

“They keep us in the loop with anything that’s going on out there,” Rosatti said. “They’re very up on the safety issues. Anything they do out there is with the safety of the community in mind.”

He said the Delmont M&R operators offered expert assistance when his department and other emergency crews responded on April 29, 2016, to an explosion of a gas pipeline operated by another company about 2 miles away from the Delmont M&R site.

That blast scorched about 40 acres of farm fields, leveled a brick ranch house, left a man seriously burned, melted the siding on several nearby homes and rattled windows for miles around.

“They’re the experts on moving and storing natural gas,” Rosatti said of the EGTS staff. “They’re a big asset to us.

“There’s a lot of gas that’s stored in and moves through Salem Township.”

As part of its Appalachian Reliability Project permit application, EGTS received additional letters of support from the Westmoreland County Commissioners, Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce, the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, the Marcellus Shale Coalition and several area legislators, including state Sens. Kim Ward and Joe Pittman.

Entities that have filed motions to intervene in the permitting process include: Virginia Natural Gas, an EGTS customer; Calpine Energy Services of Delaware, an energy marketer and potential future shipper of natural gas through the EGTS system; and Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. and New York State Electric & Gas Corp., local gas distribution companies in New York. The motions indicated they wanted to make sure their interests were properly represented as the case moves forward.