Michelin plant switching to natural gas in Pictou County

The Michelin Canada tire manufacturing plant in Pictou County, N.S., is switching to natural gas, Heritage Gas announced Monday.

The two companies have signed a deal to build a short pipeline 1.5 kilometres long to the plant in Granton, northwest of New Glasgow. The pipeline will constructed early next year if the permit for the construction is approved by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.

If everything goes according to plan, the Michelin plant should be switching over to natural gas in March.

Heritage Gas said the construction of a longer, 20-kilometre pipeline to the Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Pulp Mill in Abercrombie Point is already underway and scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

Alice McCarron, the vice-president of marketing and business development for Heritage Gas, said Northern Pulp will be the gas distributor's largest customer but Michelin is also important.

"They will be in our top tier of customers in terms of the size and scale of the project so it helps strengthen the business case for the community," McCarron told CBC News.

"It further helps us with our feasibility for expansion into the town of New Glasgow and Stellarton."

Business and political leaders in Pictou County have complained for years about their lack of access to natural gas. Officials withHeritage Gas began meeting last month with members of the Pictou County community to secure support for further extension of the pipeline next year.

"Energy is a major operating cost for Michelin and signing this agreement to begin pipeline construction will help us reduce our operating costs and improve our energy security, as well as allow us to be more environmentally friendly," Jeff MacLean, the plant manager of Michelin Canada Pictou County, said in a statement.