Jon Baker TimesReporter.com staff writer @jbakerTRStaff Reporter

NEW PHILADELPHIA The start of construction of the 215-mile Utopia Pipeline through Tuscarawas, Harrison and Carroll counties will bring more than 300 temporary jobs to the New Philadelphia area.

Kinder Morgan, the company spearheading the project, and its contractor, Minnesota Ltd., will begin Wednesday with the process of removing trees from the pipeline right-of-way.

While work is being done, Minnesota Ltd. will operate a contractor yard in New Philadelphia on 16th Street SW, between the Eagle Truck Stop and the Tuscarawas County Job & Family Services building. It will be located behind Cardinal Fleet Service.

"This is going to be a big project for Ohio," said Allen Fore, vice president of public affairs for Kinder Morgan. "New Philadelphia has a particular significance to the project because we're also going to be locating one of our contractor yards here. Minnesota Ltd. is our contractor for the project. It's a union contractor. It's going to be utilizing union labor, so a lot of local workforce will be part of this.

"We anticipate, once we get up and running, we'll have over 300 workers working out of that construction yard for several months."

He predicted that those workers who come from outside the area will be patronizing local restaurants and hotels and purchasing items at local stores.

"These folks work very hard, but they're also paid well, and they're going to be living in the area temporarily or already residents here, so a it will be a good boon to the economy over the next several months," he said.

Kinder Morgan and Minnesota Ltd. employees gathered Tuesday at the Schoenbrunn Inn and Conference Center for an orientation session, where they were greeted by New Philadelphia Mayor Joel Day.

"I encouraged them to explore New Philadelphia, to come downtown and go to the east side, take in the restaurants and the Performing Arts Center," the mayor said following the meeting. "I asked them to explore New Philadelphia and told them I'm sure you'll be pleased with what you discover."

Day said the contractor yard will mean a boost in revenue for the city through income tax collections and the bed tax. "It gives us more revenue to do things for the city, and it exposes New Philadelphia to more people, which is a good thing. Some of them might move here."

He said he didn't know the exact amount of revenue the project would bring in. "We won't know until they start working and paying. They are well-paid workers, so it'll give us a nice bump."

The Utopia Pipeline will carry ethane gas from the MarkWest processing facility in Cadiz to an existing Kinder Morgan pipeline in northwest Ohio. From there, the ethane will be taken to the Nova Chemicals plant in Windsor, Ontario, where it will be turned into plastics.

Fore expects construction on the pipeline to begin in April or May and it will go into service on Jan. 1, 2018.

The company has already secured 90 percent of the right-of-way from properties owners that is needed for construction, and Fore said the company will reach 100 percent in the next couple of months. Kinder Morgan will have a 50-foot right-of-way for the pipeline and a 50-foot temporary right-of-way for construction.

Fore said Kinder Morgan works closely with property owners, sometimes making adjustments to the route to accommodate their wishes. The company also works with counties and townships on road use agreements and on how to repair roads after the work is done.

"This is a partnership that could potentially last generations," he said. "These pipelines are going to be in service for a very long time, so starting off correctly is in the best interest of the company because these landowner relationships, these relationships with elected officials are going to last a long time."

The pipeline will be buried a minimum of 3 feet underground. It will go to depths of 8 to 10 feet under roads and 30 feet when going under waterways, such as the Tuscarawas River.

Fore said maintenance of the pipeline will be a top priority after it is completed.

"Our pipelines are built to last a very long time," he said. "The reason that they do is because, first of all, you get good quality pipe. This is American-made pipe, good quality pipe. You test it. You make sure it's built to last.

"We also then coat the pipe with an epoxy that avoids corrosion, because if something is going to happen to a pipe, it will be corrosion or an external impact. We also use a highly-trained workforce to build it, to put it together, to weld it. And then we monitor it."

The pipeline will be viewed regularly from the air and the ground. In addition, Kinder Morgan has an internal inspection tool, called a pig, that is able to go through the line periodically to determine if something is not right.

"So there are lots of protections built into these systems that make sure that these things are built to operate safely and are built to last," Fore said.

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Utopia Pipeline project to bring 300 temporary jobs to New Philadelphia - New Philadelphia Times Reporter