Natural gas pipeline would tunnel under Lebanon Hills Regional Park

A gas pipeline that could cut through Lebanon Hills Regional Park and affect more than 400 landowners has south metro residents on edge.

Northern Natural Gas wants to run a 7.8-mile underground line from Rosemount to Eagan. The pipe would transport natural gas, which Xcel Energy would use to generate electricity at its Black Dog power plant as the facility moves away from coal.

Many residents who attended an open house on the project Monday night came away relieved but still wary. Gas company staff said that instead of tearing open backyards and parkland to lay the line they plan to drill underground to install much of the 20-inch pipe.

"If they do what they say they're going to do, we're cautiously optimistic," said Addie Moe, of Eagan, noting that the project is still being planned and many of the details have not yet been decided.

While her property is not directly affected, she is counted among the 400 impacted residents because she lives next to a yard where the pipeline would be laid. Moe is nervous that old elms, oaks and pines in her neighbor's yard — trees she said give the neighborhood a woodsy feel — could be cut down.

"It would really devalue our property if we were to lose any of that feel," Moe said.

About half the gas line would be bored through the soil, which means there would be less clear-cutting of trees and vegetation than the company planned in 2011 when it initially looked at laying the pipeline, said Mike Loeffler, the gas company's director of external affairs.

"As part of our strategy to reduce our carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2030, we continue to invest in natural gas generation, including facilities at the Black Dog power plant location," Xcel spokesman Randy Fordice wrote in an e-mail. "To operate the facility we need a supplemental supply of natural gas."

Construction of the $48 million pipeline is scheduled to begin in spring 2017.

Much of the new gas line would run next to an existing pipe that was added decades ago and already cuts through Lebanon Hills, Dakota County's largest and most popular park.

Northern Natural Gas owns an easement through the park that ranges from 60 to 66 feet wide, said Taud Hoopingarner, Dakota County's operations ­management director.

Since the gas company already has the easement, there's not much residents can do to prevent the new line there, said Gary Wong, a Rosemount resident. The pipe would also run through his yard.

Many park users are hypervigilant about projects at Lebanon Hills following a recent contentious decision by Dakota County to add a paved trail in the park.

Wong was one of many residents who said they wish the line did not have to go through park but who felt better after talking with gas company staff.

Northern Natural Gas will work with landowners to get the right seeds replanted on torn-up sites, Loeffler said. Workers will have to leave some parts of the park easement open so they can conduct future repairs on the line, he said, but those areas can be turned into unpaved trails.

"We know it's an important neighborhood resource, and we're going to respect it," Loeffler said of the park.

The county would work with the company to reduce the long-term effects of construction and replant areas that are damaged, Hoopingarner said. They anticipate that Northern Natural Gas would regularly inspect the line and respond immediately to any issues to ­prevent safety or fire hazards, he said.

"In a perfect world, you wish they wouldn't have to do it. But we all use natural gas," Larson said.

Jessie Van Berkel • 952-746-3280