Virginia Natural Gas Scraps Plans for Pipeline, Compressor Station in ‘Rural Crescent’

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Virginia Natural Gas has rescinded a plan to build a new natural gas pipeline in Prince William and Fauquier counties because one of the project’s customers no longer needs new pipeline capacity.  

The $205 million project, known as the "Virginia Natural Gas Interconnect," would have added about six miles of new natural gas pipeline and a compressor station in Prince William County’s “rural crescent,” four miles of pipeline in Fauquier County and upgrades to a metering station in Hanover County. 

“One of the customers for this project is no longer asking for new pipeline capacity, which prompted us to cancel the project,” said Virginia Natural Gas President Robert Duvall in a press statement last week.  

Due to confidentiality agreements, Virginia Natural Gas would not disclose the name of the customer.  

The “Interconnect” project was a scaled back version of a much larger natural gas project, known as the "Header Improvement Project," which would have supplied a new power plant in Charles City County. But plans for the new power plant failed to materialize last year.  

Virginia Natural Gas said the pipeline was still necessary at the time because of increased demand from Columbia Gas of Virginia and Dominion Energy subsidiary Virginia Power Services Energy.  

The project was opposed by local and regional environmental activists who raised concerns about natural gas’ impact on climate change caused by rising greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions trap heat and make the planet warmer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat and transportation, including natural gas, according to the U.S. EPA. 

The pipeline project was also opposed by the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy in Nokesville.  

In a letter to the State Corporation Commission, attorneys for the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy said the pipeline would have run directly beneath the training center’s emergency response course, potentially delaying the graduation of police recruits.  

 Courtesy: www.princewilliamtimes.com