Texas company drops plan for Pa. gas pipeline

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Texas company has abandoned plans for a natural-gas pipeline in southwestern Pennsylvania, citing legal costs and falling natural-gas production.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports today that a senior vice president with Peregrine Keystone Gas Pipeline has confirmed it’s abandoning plans for a nine-mile pipeline through parts of Fayette, Greene and Washington counties.

The executive, Lorne Fuller, says the company believes it would have faced ongoing legal action even if it overturned an adverse ruling by the state Public Utility Commission last month. Some residents had expressed concern the company would use eminent domain to seize land for the pipeline.

The company says in a PUC filing last week that because of falling gas production in the area continuing the regulatory process “would be a waste of time and resources.”