Two more gas plants to be sited in county

A proposed gas plant is in the works for Converse County. Rowdy Pipeline LLC is planning to build the Jewell gas plant 55 miles north of Douglas, just inside Converse County. The plant’s projected output will be approximately 40 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2018, with hopes of increasing production to 100 million.
“We are doing our facility in two phases,” Project Supervisor Alan Schroeder said, remarking that phase one would be implemented at the end of this year with intentions to have phase two in full swing within two years. Jewell plans to have between 4-6 full-time employees at the plant.
“Primarily it is located near our existing system and is in a location that needs additional processing capacity,” Schroeder said. “There will be pipelines built that will feed the facility and leave the facility, right within that area.”
Schroeder says Rowdy Pipeline is excited about the area and their ability to promote the workforce in Converse County.
With an expected output of 100 million cubic feet of gas per day, the expected property tax from the plant would be approximately $655,000 annually, although calculating other taxes for the facility is a bit more difficult.
“The value and taxes on the gas would be a different situation,” Converse County Assessor Dixie Huxtable said. “The volume and value is reported to the state. Severance taxes are paid to the state, ad valorem taxes would be billed and paid to the county. Because they have allowable deductions from variable sales prices it is very difficult if not impossible to estimate a taxable value.”
Jewell is one of two gas plants proposed to be built in Converse County, but only one has entered the next preparation phase.
“The other one, they are not far enough along with their negotiations to have a firm plan yet,” Converse County Director of Special Projects Holly Richardson said. “I think they’ve got to purchase property and stuff so it could be they have to do a subdivision before they do that.”
The other plant Richardson mentions is called Steamboat. A representative from the company beginning the operation of the Steamboat gas plant visited with commissioners to discuss general information about the plant.
“Both of these companies have met with the commissioners,” Converse County Commissioner Jim Willox said. “Generically, they are not quite at the point to talk about specifics.”
Steamboat’s proposed location is near Cherokee Trail in Converse County. More information will be available about this plant after final plans are put through.
Willox has been seeing the uptick.
“If you have two companies coming in to build significant gas plants, that tells me that they look forward in their forecast,” Willox said. “There is a stream of gas that is coming for the foreseeable future that will need to be processed, which to me indicates a stable environment.”