By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., was in Hays Friday to announce a federal grant for Midwest Energy.
An $8.1 million grant will pay to replace 68 miles of legacy bare steel natural gas pipeline in northern Barton County, southern Russell County and western Ellsworth County with a modern polyethylene pipeline.
The older steel pipe has been slowly deteriorating as it has been exposed to the elements, staff said.
According to Midwest Energy staff, the pipeline replacement will take at least three years.
See the map below for the areas that will be affected.
Midwest Energy also received a $580,000 grant, which was previously announced, to purchase 20 handheld laser leak detectors and four all-terrain vehicles to expedite gas leak surveying in rural areas.
Midwest Energy workers once walked lines to check for leaks. The all-terrain vehicles, demonstrated Friday, allow employees to test lines at a pace of about three to four miles per hour.
These are the first federal grants of their kind that Midwest Energy has received for natural gas infrastructure improvement in at least 20 years.
Last fall, Midwest Energy was awarded $97 million in federal funds to upgrade substations and rebuild 150 miles of transmission lines across seven western Kansas counties.
"On behalf of Sen. Marshall, we are happy to help navigate this and other circumstances where Kansans are looking for grants and federal assistance that exists," Moran said.
He said this project is about efficiency and well-use of taxpayer dollars.
Moran said rural Kansas does not always have the resources to provide the services its residents need.
"A lot of the joy or satisfaction comes from helping a community or a business grow and find success in the place we all call home," Moran said. "This is just one more step in the good things that are happening in Kansas."