Columbia Gas parent company approved for pipeline improvement plan

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has granted NiSource’s Columbia Gas Transmission approval for a customer settlement that facilitates Columbia’s comprehensive pipeline infrastructure improvement plan.

Under the settlement, NiSource plans to invest $300 million per year through 2017 on improvements to its Appalachian pipeline system. This is in addition to a $100 million investment in ongoing maintenance.

These improvements include replacing approximately 1,000 miles of existing transmission pipelines and replacing and modernizing more than 50 critical compressor units along the pipeline system.

The work also includes improving Columbia’s ability to perform state-of-the-art maintenance and inspections without interrupting services.

The work will involve Columbia Gas transmission lines in
Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia and is expected to create more than 7,000 direct jobs.

In the long-term, NiSource expects to make a total investment of approximately $4 billion over a 10-15 year period.

The plan stems from a consumer settlement filed on September 4, 2012.

The settlement is unrelated to the December 11 explosion of a Columbia natural gas transmission line near Sissonville that destroyed several homes, but it could help prevent similar incidents.

The announcement comes just before a scheduled Senate Commerce Committee field hearing Monday that U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller is holding in Charleston on pipeline safety and a recent report by the General Accountability Office.