New pipeline to bring more natural gas to Othello area
Charles H. Featherstone/Sun Tribune A worker for Columbia Natural Gas digs a trench for the new natural gas pipeline being laid along Lee Road on the north side of Othello.
OTHELLO — A new pipeline being laid along Lee Road on the north side of Othello is expected to double the amount of natural gas available to gas users across the area.
It’s to make sure McCain Foods has enough natural gas for its planned $300 million expansion, expected to be completed next year.
“McCain Foods is our primary customer,” said Steve Kessie, regional manager for Kennewick-based Cascade Natural Gas.. “But we are increasing capacity in that area so we can provide for those kinds of facilities.”
Kessie said workers with the company are swapping out about three miles of four-inch high-pressure natural gas line with an eight-inch line for the company’s roughly 1,500 residential and industrial customers in Othello.
“We do serve the community at large, but that’s not the primary driver,” he added.
The northwest corner of Othello is home to several major food companies, including potato processors McCain Foods and J.R. Simplot as well as juice and concentrate producer SVZ.
The pipeline replacement is necessary, Kessie said, because even with the Columbia Basin’s very cheap electricity, it’s still cheaper for companies needing a lot of energy for heating or cooking to use natural gas.
“Heating water and cooking is more efficient with with gas,” Kessie said. “Those processing plants have a large demand for water and heating capacity.”
Cascade draws natural gas from the Northwest Pipeline system owned and operated by Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams, which operates several interstate natural gas pipelines across the United States. The 3,900-mile-long Northwest system delivers natural gas to Idaho, Oregon and Washington from gas fields in Wyoming and Colorado, according to the company’s website.
The Williams pipeline also provides natural gas to Lamb Weston in Warden and several industrial customers in and around Moses Lake, according data from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.
Work on the pipeline replacement began in late May and is expected to be done before the end of July, according to Cascade District Manager Sam Grant.
“It’s 80 percent complete,” he said.
“But we’ve been working for a year on land acquisition for the route,” Kessie added. “And we’ve already installed the service line at McCain.”
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.