Study Concludes Southwestern Virginia Will
Benefit From Greenbrier Pipeline
Clarksburg, W.Va.
- The proposed Greenbrier
Pipeline would result in significant short-term and long-term economic benefits
to southwestern Virginia, according to an economic impact study conducted by
Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. The report concludes that because
of considerable construction outlays and the generation of property tax revenues,
the general regional economy will reap immediate advantages.
According to the report, economic impact in the study region
would include $88 million in construction contracts plus nearly $3 million in
worker-related expenditures.
The findings, prepared by Dr. Vittorio Bonomo, associate
professor of finance at Virginia Tech, points out that the Greenbrier Pipeline
will have long-term benefits to the region as well. According to the report,
there is a need for an infrastructure to serve current natural gas requirements
as well as future growth.
The proposed Greenbrier Pipeline, a partnership of a Dominion
subsidiary and a Piedmont Natural Gas subsidiary, represents nearly one-half
billion dollars in expenditures that are designed to attract industry to the
region, provide for a more efficient and environmentally sound generation of
electricity and serve smaller users by increasing the supply of natural gas
to local distribution companies.
The study also states that the Greenbrier Pipeline will directly
affect property taxes paid to local governments in the study region. The additional
taxes will either reduce the amount of taxes collected from other sources or
provide for an improvement in the level of public services. (See table on page
11 of study).
"We were confident that the Greenbrier Pipeline would
provide economic benefits to southwestern Virginia, and at the same time, build
an infrastructure that would attract future economic growth and development,"
stated Gary Sypolt, senior vice president of Dominion Transmission, which will
construct and operate the pipeline. "The economic advantages as outlined in
the Virginia Tech study are even more favorable to the region than we had anticipated."
The Greenbrier Pipeline will have the capacity to supply
600 dekatherms (or about 585 million cubic feet) a day of natural gas to local
distribution companies, municipalities, marketers, industrial users and new
electric power plants. The proposed pipeline will include 200 miles of 30-inch
pipeline from Dominion Transmission's existing Cornwell Compressor Station near
Charleston, W.Va., to a point in Rockingham County, N.C., about 44 miles of
24-inch pipe from Rockingham County to Person County, N.C. and about 18 miles
of 20-inch pipe from Person County to Granville County, N. C.
Dominion, headquartered in Richmond, Va., is one of the nation's
largest producers of energy, with a production capability of more than 3 trillion
British thermal units of energy per day. Dominion owns and operates 7,600 miles
of natural gas transmission pipeline with a delivery capacity of 6.3 billion
cubic feet per day. Dominion serves nearly 4 million retail natural gas and
electric customers in five states. For more information about Dominion, visit
the company's Web site at www.dom.com.
Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy and services company
primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to 710,000 residential,
commercial and industrial customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The Charlotte-based company is the second-largest natural gas utility in the
Southeast. Piedmont is also invested in a number of non-utility, energy-related
businesses including companies involved in unregulated retail natural gas and
propane marketing, and interstate and intrastate natural gas storage and transportation.
More information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available on the Internet at
www.piedmontng.com.
