NIPSCO marks halfway point in construction of $370M pipeline
A $370 million natural gas pipeline project that’s underway now will benefit Northwest Indiana’s major industries and the region’s whole economy, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. leaders say.
The project, now at the halfway mark, “will provide customers value for many, many decades to come,” NIPSCO President Mike Hooper said at NIPSCO’s new Wheeler regulator station, near Porter County’s western edge.
When the work is completed and the pipeline put into service in 2023, NIPSCO will have 26 miles of new 24-inch-wide natural gas pipeline from Gary’s Aetna area to Kouts, plus about 8 miles of 30-inch-wide natural pipeline in Gary from Aetna to Clark Road, near the Lake Michigan shore.
“We see expansion to come” in the region’s economy as a result, Hooper said.
“If we have available natural gas and electricity,” added Rick Galinski, NIPSCO’s director of public affairs and economic development, “that’s going to attract customers.”
Industries are relying more on natural gas for their energy needs, Hooper said.
The new gas regulator station at Wheeler connects TC Energy’s cross-country gas pipeline to NIPSCO’s new regional pipeline.
Along with that and the new pipeline, the project includes six gas facility rebuilds and three new customer gas facilities, the utility said.
Surrounded by farm fields, the Wheeler facility includes a building housing an enormous tank that adds a distinctive odor to natural gas so leaks can be detected, and another building housing a regulator to step down the pressure going into the NIPSCO pipeline.
To keep the lower-pressure gas from freezing, another huge tank heats it up carefully.
Union leaders from the Pipefitters and Laborers unions have backed the project.
“These are very high-paying jobs,” Pipefitters Local 597 business representative Mark Antczak said. “Everything here was put together by people who live in the region.”
NPL Construction Co. installed the pipeline, with over 200 employees working on the project.
NIPSCO began an aggressive gas and electric infrastructure improvement campaign eight years ago, Hooper said, and the company has invested $2.7 billion into the campaign since then.
He said the company’s infrastructure work has included replacing nearly 400 miles of aging electric cable and 70 miles of uncoated steel pipelines in Gary, along with new electric transmission poles through southern Lake County.