By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent
It will soon be time to celebrate the natural gas redundancy line being finished. “They are paving Mona roads today (last Tuesday),” said Seth Atkinson. “We are wrapping up the work and the project will soon be completed.” The line will be charged, he said, to make certain all is in order. “I think this is a pretty big deal,” said Atkinson. “I think we should celebrate it.” He suggested that those cities in east Juab should all participate in the ceremony. All the participating cities and the county could be invited. Atkinson said he thought that the city should find out if they could turn a wheel to turn the system on, even symbolically. The redundant connection via Dominion Energy was built near the Currant Creek Power Plant in Mona and provides a redundant gas supply to the residents of Nephi, Mona, Levan, Rocky Ridge and many residents of east Juab County. “They have been good partners to work with,” said Atkinson. Nephi City operates as the agent for the Juab Rural Development Agency (JRDA) natural gas system. The gate station connection at Payson was paid off so that gave the city money to use to provide a second connection to provide natural gas to the communities connected to the system. A redundant connection has been desired for a few years to help with main line maintenance, continuity of natural gas in the event of natural disasters or accidental damage to the main line, and to facilitate future economic development, said Atkinson. “This gives me some personal gratification,” said Atkinson. “I worked on this from the beginning.” The city uses a gas broker to obtain the best gas costs. In the summer, the system uses less gas and in the winter consumer consumption goes up. The purchase path comes from Price in Carbon County so there are lots of connections where the Nephi system can be sold. The amount of pressure in a pipeline is measured in pounds per square inch. When the natural gas in a transmission pipeline reaches a local gas utility, it normally passes through a “gate station.” Utilities often have gate stations receiving gas at many different locations and from several different pipelines. Gate stations serve three purposes. First, they reduce the pressure in the line from transmission levels to distribution levels, which range from 1/4 pound to 200 pounds. Then an odorant is added, so that consumers can smell even small quantities of gas. Finally, the gate station measures the flow rate of the gas to determine the amount being received by the utility. This contract provides the city with “firm” transport from the Goshen connection point to the proposed delivery point near Mona. “Firm transport is essential to receive uninterruptible delivery of gas to the system,” Atkinson said. “This connection just outside of Mona will provide the system with a redundant connection for a fraction of the cost of the previous Kern River pipeline proposal.” “I agree,” said Glade Nielson, mayor. “I think we should make plans to celebrate the opening of the redundant line.” “We still have some outstanding bills because the project is not quite finished but, to date, the total cost of the project has been $1,947,637.53,” said Atkinson. “This includes the cost of the gate station, the pipes, the regulator station for a business connection, road paving, and engineering costs.” “To put this in perspective, the estimate to connect to the Kern River pipeline out west was around $8 million,” he said. “That was the estimate several years ago, it would probably cost more today.” |
