Last Friday morning, the Milligan community and residents from the surrounding area found their homes and offices colder than usual due to a low natural gas pressure.
“Temperatures that are especially low for a prolonged period of time, coupled with growth in the area, cause a strain on the natural gas system and the pressure drops,” said Judy Moss, manager of public affairs at Atmos Energy, the local natural gas supplier.
Milligan students were notified of the problem on Friday by an e-mail from Joe Whitaker, vice president for business and finance, who said that the college was experiencing difficulties heating many campus buildings and some hot water problems.
"I do know that because this winter is much colder than the last few, we have been using a lot more gas than in year past,” said Leonard Beattie, director of the physical plant.
Chuck Fraser, commercial sales representative for Atmos Energy, said a natural gas line in Elizabethton was opened up to provide a more balanced gas supply for the area.
“Some places have higher pressure than others and when we monitor the gas…we want it to be balanced,” said Fraser.
Atmos monitors gas line pressure and temperature, especially when the weather causes increased use. When the pressure decreases, Atmos notifies large users, such as hospitals and factories, and they are asked to use alternative heating sources.
Fraser said customers who use large volumes of natural gas are called “interruptibles” and they shut off their natural gas so that pressure will increase in the surrounding area.
According to Beattie, Milligan is not an interruptible customer and there are no back up systems for the college. Since last Friday, Atmos has been on campus everyday to check the gas pressure.