Comanche Trails Pipeline construction begins

By Lisa Dillinger, Granado Communications Group

The Comanche Trail Pipeline will financially benefit local communities including Van Horn via the use of goods and services during construction, and will provide a direct tax benefit to the counties traversed by the project. Culberson County will receive approximately $1.5 million in ad valorem (property) taxes the first year the pipeline is in-service. The pipeline will pay ad valorem taxes on an annual basis. Multiple taps will be installed along the route for economic development opportunities.

The Comanche Trail Pipeline will employ approximately 300 construction workers and will create a few permanent positions for ongoing operations and maintenance once the pipeline is in-service. Contractors on the Comanche Trail Pipeline plan to have an office in the Van Horn area. Anyone interested in jobs should call the toll-free project number: 800-246-7976.

Construction on the mainline portion of the Comanche Trail Pipeline is expected to start in early March. We have been working with landowners along the route to secure voluntary easement agreements and will continue to do so as construction starts. It is our goal to build long-term partnerships with the landowners and the community at large. In addition to safely building and operating this natural gas pipeline, it is our intention to be a valued member of the communities in which we operate.

Our goal is to provide safe and reliable natural gas service to the communities we cross and to the customers we serve. We design, construct, operate and maintain the pipeline to meet or exceed where possible all state and federal safety standards. Some safety measures we incorporate include x-ray inspections of weld joints, hydrostatic (water) testing at higher-than-normal operating pressures, pressure and temperature regulators, and emergency shut-off valves. I have attached our safety handout.

We have reached out to and/or spoken with the Emergency Management coordinators and fire chiefs in each traversed county to set up free training. We will continue to communicate with them as the project moves forward. We are also working with these departments to develop area-specific emergency response plans.

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