Gas News Release

May 17, 2000

Dominion Plans Up To $1 Billion Investment in West Virginia Over Next Three Years

CLARKSBURG, WV -- Dominion Resources will invest up to $1 billion over the next three years to expand its existing business operations in West Virginia, its chief executive officer says.

In remarks to be delivered tonight to business leaders at the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce in Clarksburg, Dominion Chief Executive Officer Tom Capps will review existing investments and highlight planned investments to be announced later in the year.

Among investments by Dominion already announced or planned in West Virginia are new pipelines, new power facilities and new natural gas drilling. Also planned are major new investments in environmental protection.

Capps will say that Dominion is expanding its already substantial presence in West Virginia because the state has a skilled work force, abundant natural resources and is in the energy-intensive region where the company seeks growth.

Capps said he was pleased to accept the speaking invitation because it represents the company’s first major opportunity to address business leaders directly following Dominion’s merger with Consolidated Natural Gas on January 28.

Capps added: “We’ve been here a long time — more than 100 years, dating back to the creation of Hope Gas. We like it here. And we’re planning more — a lot more.”

Dominion has more than 1,470 employees with a payroll of about $100 million in West Virginia. Its subsidiaries paid about $50 million in state and local taxes in 1999.

Among Dominion’s businesses in West Virginia are Hope Gas and Dominion Transmission in Clarksburg; Morgantown Energy Associates, the operator of a cogeneration facility that heats and cools West Virginia University and provides power to Allegheny Power; and Dominion Exploration and Production in Jane Lew. It also owns and operates the Mt. Storm Power Station and North Branch Power Station in Grant County. In fact, the company has employees, facilities, offices and equipment in 41 of the state’s 55 counties.

The company has already announced a $130 million investment in a natural gas-fired peaking power facility in Pleasants County and a $118 million environmental protection upgrade at its Mt. Storm Power Station in Grant County. During tonight’s remarks, Capps will also announce a $22 million investment in additional natural gas drilling planned in West Virginia this year by Dominion Exploration and Production.

Capps will tell chamber attendees that he is not yet able to provide specific details, but additional environmental upgrades in the range of $200 million to $250 million are planned at unspecified businesses. He will also tell the group that Dominion is readying to invest up to $400 million in additional pipeline facilities that will have a major presence in West Virginia.

He will close tonight’s speech with a review of the company charitable giving and philanthropic activities in the state. This recently included the donation of the $1.5-million “Bear Rocks” tract of scenic land on Dolly Sods to the Nature Conservancy of West Virginia. Donation of the 477-acre tract earlier this year represented the largest-ever corporate gift to the Nature Conservancy of West Virginia. In 1998, Dominion established a $250,000 engineering endowment at WVU.

Dominion is a $24 billion electric power and natural gas company active in the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Headquartered in Richmond, it has nearly 4 million retail natural gas and electric customers in five states. Clarksburg is headquarters for Dominion Transmission and Hope Gas.

Contact: 
Bob Fulton, 304-623-8200