Companies like TransCanada Corporation (Columbia Gas Transmission’s new parent company) are investing billions of dollars on new natural gas storage and pipeline infrastructure throughout the Appalachia region.

Over the three-year period between 2016 and 2018, TransCanada’s investment in critically needed energy infrastructure within West Virginia will eclipse $3 billion. That means the Mountain State and surrounding region are gaining unparalleled access to a reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible energy source.

These new pipelines represent jobs, both directly in the employment of thousands of workers to construct the new pipelines and then operate them safely and reliably, and indirectly in the local economic development this level of investment will inevitably drive.

There is no debate: pipelines support economic development and new jobs. As construction ramps up in West Virginia, TransCanada will employ thousands of workers to construct these new lines and will pay $54 million in property taxes annually to counties in the state by 2020.

As West Virginia continues to diversify its industrial base of chemicals, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, aerospace and various high-tech initiatives, the attractive supply of energy the natural gas sector provides becomes increasingly important.

One piece of our current natural gas buildout in the region wrapped up on Jan. 1, 2018, as TransCanada welcomed the New Year by flowing gas on our newest pipeline: Leach XPress. This 160-mile, 36-inch diameter project begins in Marshall County and travels through Southeast Ohio, providing a critical new outlet for gas produced in Appalachia.

Leach XPress is just the first of several important TransCanada projects that will help continue building out West Virginia’s natural gas transmission system, transporting gas to key markets in this region and the Southeast.

Mountaineer XPress, the largest project in TransCanada’s U.S. portfolio, involves construction of 170 miles of large diameter pipeline in West Virginia. Included in the project’s $2.6 billion scope are three new compressor stations in Doddridge, Calhoun and Jackson counties, which will bring millions of dollars in property taxes and indirect local economic development.