CHARLESTON, WV - Gov. Jim Justice said today West Virginia has taken another major step toward expansion of its petrochemical industry with an announcement from the U.S. Department of Energy that it has approved the first part in the application process from the Appalachia Development Group for a $1.9 billion federal loan guarantee to construct a regional underground storage hub and pipeline network for shale gas.
“I’m extremely pleased that the West Virginia Department of Commerce, West Virginia University and the Mid-Atlantic Technology, Research and Innovation Center (MATRIC) have been able to move the process forward for establishing this storage hub,” said Gov. Jim Justice. “Thousands of potential jobs and numerous downstream businesses could result from development of this project. We are anxious to see it come to fruition over the next several months with the invitation for ADG to now complete part two of the application process and seek the issuing of the loan guarantees.”
Appalachia Development Group (ADG) LLC., is owned by MATRIC and the West Virginia University Innovation Corporation.
ADG plans detail a series of subsurface natural gas liquids storage facilities to be built in the Ohio River Valley and Kanawha River Valley in West Virginia along with other infrastructure development in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.