Fix traffic before building natural gas plant, residents tell PSC

A rendering of a natural gas-to-liquids plant proposed at Trenton, North Dakota, by the Canadian company Cerilon. (Courtesy of Cerilon)

People testifying Monday at a North Dakota Public Service Commission hearing about a natural gas conversion plant were instead directing their complaints at the Department of Transportation.

“The whole 1804 corridor there, it’s just really terrible,” said Jonie Slater, one of several residents in the Trenton area that said traffic needs to be fixed before a potential natural gas conversion plant is built.

Cerilon’s natural gas plant would add rail and truck traffic – an estimated 78 tanker trucks per day to the area along state Highway 1804 between Trenton and Williston. That’s after a construction period that would bring its own traffic challenges.

“It needs to be resolved before the fact,” David Hoffman said of the traffic he deals with as a farmer near Trenton. “That’s not the responsibility of Cerilon to take that on, that’s the responsibility of the state of North Dakota.”

Slater said there needs to be a bypass around Trenton, a town southwest of Williston. She said a turn lane planned on 1804 will help a little but that won’t help with trains blocking the road she lives on.

Natural gas conversion project near Williston also includes carbon capture

Another resident, Shannon Hurley, said she has sat in front of a non-moving train for up to an hour with a 5-year-old in the car.

Hoffman noted that taxes on the oil and gas industry in northwest North Dakota have built up the  state’s Legacy Fund, which now sits at more than $10 billion, but residents of the Oil Patch aren’t getting relief from the dangerous roads and traffic.

While they may not want to be neighbors to a gas processing plant, most of the public comments were complimentary of Cerilon, the Canadian company behind the project.

It would take natural gas, a byproduct of oil production, converting into higher value products including lubricants and diesel fuel. The estimated cost of phase one at $3.2 billion with a second phase that is expected to be comparable.

Each Cerilon GTL ND facility will be able to convert 240 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to 24,000 barrels per day of liquid hydrocarbon products. It would also generate more electricity than it would use, selling power to Basin Electric. It would draw water from the Missouri River but would return as much water as it uses, company officials said.

Cerilon officials testified that the company chose the site for its proximity to the Northern Border natural gas pipeline, underground storage areas for carbon capture and access to rail and trucking.

In particular, Niel Erasmus, project director for Cerilon, noted being next to the Savage train and truck loading facility .

He said Cerilon would load about 78 tanker trucks and 30 railcars on a daily basis. He said some of the diesel would be distributed locally in Williams County.

Erasmus listed several logistical hurdles for getting the plant built, including the need to upgrade the road to the plant to handle the weight of some of the plant’s equipment.

He said the company is already working with transportation officials in North Dakota and Minnesota on a plan for hauling large reactors that will come by ship to the Port of Duluth that may be too heavy for some bridges. There also are areas where electrical lines may need to be lifted.

In addition to traffic, area residents expressed concerns about noise, light and water pollution.

Regulators asked Cerilon to provide more detailed information about a noise reduction plan. With the gas-to-liquids plant being the first of its scale in North America, Erasmus said there were not easy comparisons to point to.

“I am reasonably comfortable that the company is committed to dealing with the sound issues,” said Commissioner Julie Fedorchak, but adding there were a lot of valid concerns about roads and infrastructure.

Slater said she is concerned that this kind of large-scale hydrocarbon project will become the new normal for the area.

“It’s going to be industrial sprawl,” she said.

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