State board considering power project for New Middletown

NEW MIDDLETOWN — The state board that issues certificates for major utility projects is reviewing a proposal that would bring power to the Hickory Bend cryogenic gas processing plant operated by Pennant Midstream, a subsidiary of NiSource Midstream Services, LLC and NiSource Inc.

On Jan. 10, the Ohio Power Siting Board received a letter of notification from American Systems Inc. and Ohio Edison Co., subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Co., applying to construct a 3.5-mile-long transmission line that would run electricity from the 138-kilovolt Lowellville-Sammis line to the Hickory Bend plant here.

Sarah Barczyk, a spokeswoman for NiSource Midstream, said the planned line would carry 13.8 kilovolts of electricity to the plant, which will separate wet and dry natural gas from the Utica Shale. There is no permanent power source currently sustaining the facility, she added.

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