The Daily Herald
by Khai Hoang

JACKSON — After years of planning and discussion about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, construction will soon begin on the compressor station and its regional office in Northampton County.

Building the office will be Heaton Construction Inc. of Roanoke Rapids, which is a local company that formed in the mid-1980s. Bruce McKay, senior energy policy director of Dominion Energy, made the announcement Monday morning at the Northampton County Cultural & Wellness Center in Jackson.

McKay said the plan is to start the office’s construction in the second quarter of 2018. The benefits to the county will also be massive.

“$1.6 million is what we expect to contribute annually to the county once we’re operational and the pipeline reaches its full capacity,” McKay said.

Paul Heaton of Heaton Construction said his company and he are excited they’re the ones working on the office project.

“I’m a big proponent of local economic development and jobs in the local area,” Heaton said.

He added his company tries to bid on local jobs.

"Projects of this size don’t come here that often. When they do, we really like to get them,” Heaton said. “The only way we’ve really been able to grow over the years was to venture out and go to larger counties where there’s more work going on. Anytime we can do it here, it’s really an advantage to us.”

Heaton said construction may take eight to 10 months, and with the window of time before construction work begins, his company can conduct preliminary work. And though his company is in Roanoke Rapids and he lives in Halifax County, McKay doesn’t live far.

“They say that I’m in Halifax County not Northampton, but where I live, I can hit a golf ball into Northampton County across the river,” he said.

As for the actual compressor station, McKay said they will announce who will be working on it in about a week. McKay said he expects the site to be operational by the end of 2019.

Members of the Northampton County Board of Commissioners expressed their gratitude for the project at the event.

The ACP — a project costing about $5 billion and spanning 600 miles — will provide lower energy costs, energy security and new jobs in the area once it’s completed. officials say. The ACP, which is made possible through a collaboration between Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and Southern Gas Company, will generate $762,500 and $1.6 million in annual tax payments to Halifax and Northampton counties, respectively, officials report.

The underground pipeline will take gas from West Virginia, Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and bring it down through North Carolina, almost reaching South Carolina.

McKay said there will be about 20 new jobs between the compressor station and regional office. He said the company is excited to begin.

“We’re nearing the time where you do what you’ve been talking about doing for several years,” McKay said. “It’s an important project, and will have a lot of benefits, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Read the entire story in The Daily Herald.