Kinder Morgan’s proposed $500 million Utopia East pipeline is “emblematic of what’s happening here in northwest Ohio with the changing energy landscape across America and — really — the world,” Allen Fore, the company’s vice president of public affairs, told about 200 people attending a Rotary Club of Toledo luncheon Monday.

Moments later, he gave the audience a sneak peek at results of an economic-impact study being released today that claims Ohio’s economy will reap $237.3 million in benefits over the project’s first five years.

That study, generated at Kinder Morgan’s request by Kent State University researchers Shawn Rohlin and Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley, asserts the pipeline will generate or support $144.9 million in new jobs, income, and local spending; $87.5 million in Ohio residents’ earnings, and $4.9 million in tax revenues.

The project is expected to create 2,132 new and indirect jobs, about 900 of which would be in construction in 2017, although only five jobs will be permanent. About 215 miles of pipeline would be laid in Ohio, connecting to existing pipeline.

According to the study, the project will spur increased spending during construction, spending by out-of-state workers, spending by permanent workers, and reduced manufacturing costs for Ohio firms in the plastics industry.

About half the workers are expected to come from out of state, according to the report.

“However, this still has a positive economic benefit to Ohio because those workers will demand local goods and services as well as housing, which will create a positive economic impact on the region,” the report stated.

Kinder Morgan wants to move ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from eastern Ohio to Windsor, Ont. through a 12-inch pipeline that would be linked to others in its network.

Ethane, used as feedstock to make plastics, is a byproduct of the process energy companies use to hydraulically fracture shale to extract oil and natural gas.

Companies most likely to benefit include those that use plastics to make car parts, building and construction materials, child-car seats, coolers, and food wrapping materials, the report said.

Kinder Morgan wants to build the Utopia East pipeline to transport ethane products from the Utica shale region to NOVA Chemicals Corp.

The proposed route touches or passes through Harrison, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Stark, Wayne, Ashland, Richland, Huron, Seneca, Sandusky, Wood, Lucas, Henry, and Fulton counties. It is to tie into a line that passes through Lenawee, Monroe, and Wayne counties, where it goes under the Detroit River and winds up in Windsor.

During his presentation to the Rotary, one club member asked how residents can be fairly compensated for easement rights to their property. No objections were raised.

Kinder Morgan — which now hopes to begin construction in early 2017 and start operating the pipeline in 2018 — is trying to wrap up negotiations with landowners in 14 Ohio counties this year.

The project differs from another major pipeline that is planned to come through northwest Ohio, the proposed $2 billion, 255-mile NEXUS Gas Transmission project that would transport natural gas through a 36-inch pipeline. 

That project, however, has drawn controversy, in part because of the siting of a compressor station NEXUS wants to build near Waterville.

Both projects come in response to advances in the horizontal fracking technique that the oil and gas industry has described as a global game-changer, one that has made America the world’s largest natural gas producer since 2011 and the world’s largest oil producer since 2014, Mr. Fore said.

“The ability to extract and transport [natural gas and oil from fracked shale] is relatively new,” Mr. Fore said.

Ohio’s boom comes mostly from Utica shale in the eastern part of the state.

Kinder Morgan, North America’s largest energy-infrastructure company, manages 84,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals across the continent. 

These pipelines are used to transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide, and other products.

Kinder Morgan also stores or handles products such as jet fuel, ethanol, coal, petroleum coke, and steel.

Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences is doing a multiyear study to determine if crop yields are at all impacted by pipelines, Mr. Fore said.

Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.

First Published August 23, 2016, 4:00 a.m.