A Kent State University report being released Tuesday will show that the proposed $500 million, 240-mile Utopia East pipeline will generate $237.3 million over its first five years for Ohio’s economy.
Results of the study were announced by Allen Fore, Kinder Morgan vice president of public affairs, during a noon luncheon speech hosted by the Rotary Club of Toledo. Held downtown at the Park Inn, the event was attended by about 200 people.
Mr. Fore told The Blade after his presentation that Kinder Morgan, North America’s largest pipeline company and the one behind the Utopia East project, hired two Kent State economics researchers to do the economic-impact study.
The breakdown includes a projected $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 construction jobs in 2017.
An advance copy of the 11-page report was provided to the newspaper. More details will be in Tuesday’s print edition and posted at www.toledoblade.com.
Kinder Morgan remains on schedule to begin construction in early 2017, then begin operating the pipeline in 2018, Mr. Fore said.
It is currently negotiating with landowners in 14 Ohio counties. Plans call for linking the 12-inch pipeline to others in the Kinder Morgan network to move ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from eastern Ohio to Windsor, Ont.
The project is different than another major one proposed to come through northwest Ohio, the proposed $2 billion, 255-mile NEXUS Gas Transmission project that would be used to transport natural gas through a 36-inch pipeline.
Ethane, used as feedstock to make plastics, is a byproduct of the process energy companies use to hydraulically fracture shale so they can extract previously untapped reserves of oil and natural gas.
Mr. Fore told The Blade earlier this year that Kinder Morgan wants to build the Utopia East pipeline to transport ethane products from the Utica shale region to NOVA Chemicals Corp., a project that will help make use of waste products from fracking sites.
Kinder Morgan’s 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 an existing line that passes through Lenawee, Monroe, and Wayne counties, where it goes under the Detroit River and winds up in Windsor.
The company initially wants to transport up to 50,000 barrels a day, and the system will be built with the capability of expanding that volume another 25,000 barrels a day.
Kinder Morgan employs nearly 12,000 people in the United States and Canada.
It owns an interest in or operates 84,000 miles of pipelines that transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide, and other products. It also stores or handles products such as jet fuel, ethanol, coal, petroleum coke, and steel.
In Ohio, it operates 920 miles of pipelines and six terminals in 22 counties. Its Ohio workforce consisted of 176 employees with a combined $7.7 million payroll in 2015.
Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.
First Published August 22, 2016, 7:55 p.m.
