Company to Lay Gas Pipe in Mon River

Associated Press
10 December 2011

DONORA, Pa. — Part of the Monongahela River in southwestern Pennsylvania will experience periodic closures through year’s end while a Wisconsin construction company installs a Marcellus natural gas pipeline under the river for a Virginia energy company, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.

Dominion Resources spokesman Charles Penn said the Richmond, Va.- based energy company is installing the pipeline to accommodate gas production in Washington County and other parts of the Pennsylvania region.

Dominion bought the easements last year so Michels Corp., of Brownsville, Wis., can install Dominion’s Appalachian Gateway pipeline. The line will stretch about 110 miles from Marshall County, W. Va., to Dominion’s Oakford compression station in Delmont in Westmoreland County.

The river in the area of Donora, about 20 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, will be blocked by the digging at various times through Dec. 31, but the Army Corps says the work won’t stop commercial navigation because only part of the river channel will be closed. Michels will conduct the work throughout the day Mondays through Saturdays.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a permit for the work.