Natural gas pipeline section being relocated north of Montgomery
Modified map supplied by Northern Natural Gas
Map of the 85-year-old natural gas pipeline replacement
Northern Natural Gas (NNG) is abandoning approximately 1.7 miles of 16 inch steel natural gas pipeline north of Montgomery this summer and putting in a replacement line next to an existing line.
The section being abandoned starts at the intersection of 330th Street and 151st Avenue (Le Sueur County Road 144), and runs southwest to 340th Street and County Ditch 22 or east of the Montgomery Wastewater Treatment Plant. The current pipeline rests alongside properties on the north end of North Ridge Drive NW before crossing under Highway 13.
The replacement pipeline will follow an existing gas pipeline from 330th Street and 151st Avenue and go to the southwest, travel under Highway 13, and turn south after the intersection of Le Sueur County Ditches 30 (Lake Pepin outlet) and 22, where it will follow along the west side of County Ditch 22 to 340th Street and reconnect.
Kirk Lavengood, vice president of general counsel and regulatory affairs for NNG, said, “The replacement is required to comply with federal pipeline safety regulations. It is scheduled to be completed in September.”
Lavengood says that the original pipeline was installed in 1940, some 85 years ago and just doesn’t meet the current safety regulations.
NNG has already removed trees necessary along the path for the removal and installation areas, but people may see workers out there removing stumps and brush ahead of removing the pipe and installation of the new one.
“We will work with landowners to figure out if they want to leave the pipe in the ground or have it removed,” says Lavengood. “Generally, it will be up to the landowners unless there are environmental issues that would be more destructive to remove it than to leave it in the ground.”
Construction on the replacement pipeline and any removals will start in late...
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