ACP operations center to be in Northampton County

Bruce McKay, senior policy adviser for Dominion, one of the Atlantic partners, made the announcement at the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s Energy and Environmental Management Conference. The first building will be the ACP’s operations center in Northampton County.

It will share the site of the proposed pipeline’s compressor station, which will be the only ACP compressor station in the state.

The new facility will be approximately 6,600 square feet and will contain offices and conference rooms for nine full-time employees. Together, the office and compressor station will employ about 15-20 full-time employees.

“Atlantic’s decision to place its operations center in Northampton County is impressive and certainly welcomed,” said Gary Brown, executive director of the Northampton County Economic Development Commission. “The addition of these full-time jobs to a county whose unemployment rate is 1.5 percent higher than the state average is huge.”

Said Brown: “The project is critically important in serving the energy needs of residents, business and industry in the state and region, present and future. We appreciate the opportunity to be a part of that, and the trust they have placed in us.”

Fannie Greene, chairman of the Northampton County Board of Commissioners, said, “Northampton County is very proud to be chosen by Dominion as the location for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline operations center. We look forward to continuing a strong and beneficial relationship as the project moves forward.”

The second office building will be located in Smithfield, at one of the nine Metering and Regulating stations that will be part of the ACP.

By 2022, the ACP is projected to bring more than $1.3 million in tax revenue to Northampton County, more than $1.1 million annually to Johnston County and about $6 million annually to North Carolina as a whole.

Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources formed Atlantic to build and own the proposed pipeline. Pending regulatory approval, construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2016 and the pipeline is expected to be in service in the fourth quarter of 2018.