Mountaineer XPress Project reaches major milestone

MXP crosses the finish line

After more than four years of work, the Mountaineer XPress (MXP) project has become the latest of TransCanada’s U.S. natural gas pipeline projects to be placed in-service, with authorization being granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on March 1, 2019.

Designed to deliver 2.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of clean, affordable, domestically-produced natural gas to growing markets, the 170-mile pipeline adds to a series of important infrastructure projects completed across the TransCanada footprint. With approximately 15 million hours tallied and 42 million miles driven in a 55-week timeframe, project team members worked to make MXP a reality through some of the most complex terrain and difficult conditions TransCanada operates within.

“Completing a project like MXP is no small feat,” said Richard Prior, Vice President U.S. Natural Gas Projects. “Throughout the project, our teams were challenged time after time, whether it be regulatory delays, construction progress slowed by the rainiest summer in West Virginia’s history, or navigating complex engineering conditions, the team always found a way to persevere and keep advancing the project forward.”    

Throughout construction, support for MXP was resounding from many federal, state and local elected officials – including Calhoun County Commissioners Kevin Helmick and Chip Westfall — who heralded the significant tax revenue the pipeline, three greenfield compressor stations and upgrades to existing assets would create for their communities. In total, the project is expected to have an economic benefit of more than $2 billion, including millions of dollars annually to West Virginia counties it crosses. This is in addition to the working relationship the TransCanada team built with impacted landowners and other neighbours.