North Dakota lawmakers are considering a plan to spend $150 million dollars to help build a natural gas pipeline from the Bakken region to the Red River Valley.
The money is part of the $1 billion dollars in federal COVID-19 stimulus money provided to the state.
Among those making a push for the project is Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski. In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee today (Tuesday) Bochenski says part of the commitment to lure the Fufeng Group to build a manufacturing plant in Grand Forks is the promise of an adequate supply of natural gas. “We are in a competition that’s contingent upon us seerving this natural gas. We need it now…the problem is we have a two year window to deliver this gas to this company and our agribusiness park. If we can’t do that they’re going to look elsewhere.”
Bochenski told lawmakers it’s a big project and the city is making a financial commitment as well. “The city has taken on a heavy lift here with about $100 million worth of infrastructure improvements.”
Bochenski says a temporary solution is to connect to the Viking pipeline in Minnesota. But he says there are other companies looking at Grand Forks that would need bigger supplies of natural gas.
North Dakota’s oil patch produces substantial quantities of gas – some is burn off due to a lack of infrastructure.
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