North Dakota State University President Richard A. Hanson is seeking campus input for future major capital projects in the years ahead. Hanson made the request at an open forum Jan. 26 attended by approximately 165 faculty, staff and students.
He asked for input by Feb. 10, in time for the university to perhaps include the project ideas on its capital project list for the Board of Higher Education that is due in mid-February. "I know this is an unusual request, but I'm not sure that I know all the good ideas that are out there for the kinds of capital requests we should make to the legislature," he said. "If you have some ideas for really good capital projects, I'd like you to send me an e-mail. Send me your ideas and we'll see if we can incorporate them."
One proposal he personally wants included on the list of possible projects is a new heating plant for NDSU. "My challenge to this campus community is that in nine or 10 years, we no longer have a coal-fired heating plant," he said, expressing concerns about the facility's smokestack and its aging boilers. "We are going to have to do something, folks."
The university's heating plant was completed in 1912. It has undergone several expansion and renovation projects over the decades, including major efforts in 1962 and 1978. In 1996, the plant was upgraded to comply with emissions controls standards.
Bruce Frantz, director of Facilities Management, said the heating plant is a multi-fuel facility that uses coal, natural gas and fuel oil; and its boilers date back to the 1960s. "We don't have automated equipment and it's very labor intensive when it comes to burning coal. That's why we take advantage of natural gas prices when they do come down," Frantz said, noting he prefers a new facility focus on the use of biomass and alternative sources of fuel.
"Some of the boilers can't wait 10 years. NDSU submitted a capital repair project about two bienniums ago that was not funded," Frantz explained. "So, we're on borrowed time to a certain extent."