SEARCY, Ark. (AP) - Texas Gas Transmission plans to build a 167-mile natural gas pipeline in central Arkansas to transport newly discovered gas deposits in the Fayetteville Shale.
Texas Gas, headquartered in Owensboro, Ky., has begun the filing process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC will be the lead federal agency for conducting an environmental review of the project.
The line, called the Fayetteville Lateral, would measure about 36 inches in diameter and would begin around Grandview in Conway County. The line would head east to Letona in White County, go through Bald Knob, and head south to Helena, then cross into Mississippi and connect with a Texas Gas line in Lula in Coahoma County.
The company expects the line will cost about $360 million.
The company has scheduled a meeting Jan. 30 at Harding University for landowners whose property will be affected by the project.
"We will provide a lot of information to help people learn more about the project and help people get answers to their questions," Barbara Bennett, a company spokeswoman, said. "We will have the most current maps available so that people can see the proposed route."
Engineering, environmental, safety, and land experts will be on hand, she said.
"One of the purposes of the open house is for landholders to have input into the process," she added.
With regulatory approval, Texas Gas plans to begin construction in 2008 and complete the project in early 2009. The line would carry gas from the Fayetteville Shale, an underground reservoir of natural gas that was first plumbed by Houston-based Southwestern Energy Company in 2004.
The Fayetteville Lateral is part of a Texas Gas expansion project that also includes building a new pipeline in Mississippi, starting at Greenville and ending at Kosciusko.
Texas Gas pipelines extend 5,900 miles through nine states and carry gas to U.S. markets in the South, Midwest and Northeast.
Texas Gas Transmission: http://www.txgt.com
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