Hillsboro city leaders listen to pitch for local natural gas service
Sep 23, 2019 -- Posted by :By Michelle McLean, Hillsboro Banner
The prospect of natural gas service in Hillsboro is inching closer to a reality.
City commissioners on Monday met with Greg Palmer, president and CEO of Dakota Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Greater Minnesota Gas, who outlined the steps needed to bring the city online with a pipeline.
Palmer explained that his company’s natural gas service has expanded “by word of mouth” from six counties in southeast Minnesota to 19 more counties in central and western Minnesota and far northeast North Dakota since 2012.
He pointed out that talks with “large energy users in Hillsboro and Mayville have gained a fair amount of support.”
Commissioners will discuss the next step – a franchise agreement – at their next meeting Oct. 7.
With sufficient market support, Palmer predicted that service could extend to city customers by 2021 via a pipeline extension from the Viking transmission line at Beltrami, Minn.
For more, please subscribe to the Banner's online or print edition.