From Traverse County in the far north of Minnesota to Mower County on the Iowa line, a new natural gas pipeline will slice through the earth carrying natural gas from Canada to homes in the United States.

Thursday, April 01, 1999

From Traverse County in the far north of Minnesota to Mower County on the Iowa line, a new natural gas pipeline will slice through the earth carrying natural gas from Canada to homes in the United States.

The giant Alliance Pipeline project is the subject of a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency review.

The MPCA is inviting the public to comment on the pipeline project through April 26.

Alliance Pipeline L.P. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is proposing to construct and operate about 252 miles of 36-inch diameter, high-pressure natural gas pipeline in Minnesota.

It is part of an 888-mile-long pipeline in North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.

The United States portion of the project is designed to ship natural gas from western Canada to the Midwestern United States and other U.S. markets.

Approximately 1,000 miles of mainline will also be constructed in Canada.

The entire system will have an initial capacity to deliver natural gas at a rate of approximately 1.325 billion cubic feet per day.

The pipeline construction will involve clearing and grading as necessary, digging the trench, hauling, stringing and installing the pipe, backfilling the trench, hydrostatic testing and restoring the pipeline corridor.

In Mower County, the pipeline will slice through the area in the far southwestern portion of the county.

The company has already obtained the necessary conditional use permit for the Mower County portion of the pipeline.

Pipe is currently being stockpiled at nearby St. Ansgar, Iowa for the project.

The MPCA is concerned that discharges to Minnesota waters may occur during the original pipeline construction and future pipeline maintenance or repairs. No discharges are expected during normal operations of the pipeline.

According to the MPCA’s Terry Mader, discharge wastewater will be generated in association with construction site dewatering and hydrostatic testing.

"The MPCA has been assured by Alliance, that dewatering wastewater will be discharged into the ground surface in a manner which prevents erosion, encourages infiltration and minimizes runoff to surface waters or drains," he said.

Hydrostatic testing wastewater will be discharged to the surface water from which it was received or to the ground surface.