Proposed $1.75B project to include natural gas pipeline through West Virginia, Ohio

A company is planning a $1.75 billion project that includes laying 160 miles of natural gas pipeline in West Virginia and Ohio.

Columbia Pipeline Group announced the investment in a news release Tuesday. The proposal would help transport up to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.

Columbia expects to start construction in fall 2016 before putting the pipeline in service in the second half of 2017. It will support natural gas development in western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and eastern Ohio.

A second component will allow for more Appalachian shipments through a corridor stretching to the Gulf Coast. It primarily involves adding compression for existing pipelines.

Columbia Pipeline Group is run by Indiana-based NiSource Inc. Columbia's companies run about 15,000 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline.