Gov. Justice presents $1.9 million to Mercer County Commission for natural gas pipeline

Nov. 2—BLUEFIELD — A state grant is providing the last dollars needed to complete a natural gas pipeline which will help bring more economic development to the Bluefield area and Mercer County as a whole.

"Today is another good day in West Virginia when we're able to pass out more dollars to make more goodness happen," Gov. Jim Justice said while visiting the Bluefield Municipal Building to speak about Amendment 2.

Justice presented the Mercer County Commission and the Development Authority of Mercer County with $1,959,000 to help complete an infrastructure project at the Exit 1 corridor off Interstate 77.

"There's good stuff going on in West Virginia, absolutely great stuff," Justice said as he sat next to a giant check. "And now who did I give this check to? Don't be shy."

The more than $1.9 million will help complete a natural gas pipeline from Cumberland Road in Bluefield where it now ends beneath Route 460.

The pipeline will go up John Nash Boulevard and reach the Cumberland Road Industrial Park, Commissioner Bill Archer said before the presentation.

"It's a big deal," Archer stated.

Adding new infrastructure will help bring more businesses to the county, another member of the county commission said.

"It's going to give us a great economic opportunity to go up Route 290, John Nash Boulevard, all the way to the industrial park," said Mercer County Commission Gene Buckner. "Companies don't like to come to places that don't have infrastructure, and that's going to be a great piece of infrastructure to build on the economy in John Nash Boulevard."

The money presented Tuesday will help finish the pipeline project.

"It's going to end it all the way through," Buckner said.

Commissioner Greg Puckett said the project's funding was the result of "great cooperation." U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., obtained a Congressional allocation for the project, and the nearly $2 million presented Tuesday was money promised by the state. Mercer County has contributed $1 million to the project as well.

"It's a great step forward," Puckett said. "The more we expand out the opportunities at Exit 1, that's just going to be a huge benefit to the county and it shows people coming in from the south, you know, West Virginia — and especially Mercer County — is open for business and ready to do some good work."

Executive Director John O'Neal of the count development authority also said the completed pipeline will fuel economic development around Exit 1.

"Yes, absolutely, and we want to thank the governor for contributing nearly $2 million towards this $6 million project," he said. "Nearly 100-plus residents will have access to gas on John Nash Boulevard and dozens of businesses. This gas project will support hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in new investments in Mercer County. This is a win for Mercer County and our entire region. Another good day, and we appreciate the governor's input. We appreciate also Senator Capito for getting this thing started with the $3 million Congressionally-directed spending and our county commission also contributed a million dollars to this project, so that's the total $6 million. We just appreciate having county commissioners who are forward thinking and wanting to invest in things that are going to have great benefits in the future."

"It's not a project that we just thought of," said Frank Brady, chairman of the development authority. "We've been working on this project for over seven years, and finally seeing it come to fruition is really, really a good thing. It's going be make John Nash inhabitable."

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com