Pipeline could fuel Shelbyville economy

Pipeline could fuel Shelbyville economy

Shelbyville retailers, hoteliers and entertainment venues should get a boost for the next year from 400 construction workers who will move to town to help build the Rockies Express natural gas pipeline through Indiana. The workers started flowing in last month and will make Shelbyville their home until mid- to late-2009. They will work 10-hour days, six days a week. They will dig and then build a 70-mile stretch of the pipeline, which will pump oil from Colorado and Wyoming to eastern Ohio. The workers are employed by Oklahoma-based Sheehan Pipe Line Construction Co. The company is responsible for laying the 42-inch pipe across Morgan, Johnson, Shelby and Decatur counties. Sheehan is a contractor for the sponsors of the pipeline, a consortium of Kinder Morgan and ConocoPhillips, both based in Houston, as well as Sempra Energy, based in San Diego. The pipeline will have access points in Indiana that could boost the supply in the state. Indiana relies predominantly on coal to produce electricity, but uses a combination of coal and natural gas to produce heat.