HELENA — Northwestern Energy is upgrading a five-and-a-half-mile section of natural gas transmission pipeline running from the Silver City area to the Helena junction, acting as the backbone of the state’s natural gas supply.
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“Northwestern Energy inspects all of our natural gas infrastructure, so this is an infrastructure investment project,” Brandy Powers, a spokesperson for the company, said.
The $9 million price tag replaces a pipeline that’s around 40 years old and uses the company’s existing pipeline easement.
Transmission pipelines move natural gas from supply sources to local systems that deliver it to homes, businesses, and communities. For this project, it helps bring natural gas from Canada to communities across the Treasure State as far as Billings.
“The investments we are making today, a lot of times you don’t see this work that is happening off of a dirt road in a remote rural area, but this really benefits the entire state,” Powers said.
Northwestern Energy says the upgrade will improve the system's long-term reliability, support safe service, and meet federal pipeline safety requirements.
“You expect that when you have service that your shower is warm in the morning, your home is warm and toasty in the winter, but you want to know the infrastructure is in place to serve you,” Powers added.
Once the new pipeline is in place, Northwestern Energy says it will restore the project area by adding back the topsoil and then seeding the area.
“We are working with landowners to make sure that as we open up the earth and replace the pipeline that we are also going to put it back exactly how it was,” Powers said.
Construction started in the third week of July and is expected to wrap up around mid-October.
