YUKON – A $20,000 grant in support of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education has been awarded to Canadian Valley Technology Center.
The grant is courtesy of Midship Pipeline, a Houston-based energy company and subsidiary of Cheniere Energy, Inc., which plans to soon build a $1 billion, 200-mile natural gas pipeline across eight counties in central and southern Oklahoma.
The funds will pay for equipment purchases in Pre-Engineering programs at CV Tech’s Cowan and Chickasha campuses. CV Tech is one of eight selected schools along the planned pipeline’s route that will benefit from grant funding.
CV Tech Superintendent Dr. Gayla Lutts said the funding demonstrates the company’s desire to truly be partners with communities located near the proposed project.
“We are so appreciative of Midship’s willingness to share resources with schools located near the natural gas pipeline project,” Lutts said. “The funding will greatly enhance education opportunities for our students.”
Included among CV Tech’s planned purchases with the funding is a desktop wind tunnel and an industrial foam cutter that will enhance education within the aerospace engineering component of the Chickasha Pre-Engineering program.
The Cowan Campus program will benefit from the purchase of an advanced 3D printer. The Evo Additive Manufacturing Center is a product that debuted at the January 2018 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The printer allows for control of temperature and processing speed and features a touch screen control panel and trademark heated chamber and integrated filament drying system. The Evo can manufacture 40 materials, including, of course, plastic, metal, carbon fiber-reinforced nylon and polycarbonate.
CV Tech Assistant Superintendent Chuck Hood said the printer will particularly help high school seniors as they seek to complete a capstone project before graduation.
Hood said the projects were chosen for funding, because they match Midship’s community engagement goals to improve access to STEM education in its areas of operation.
Midship’s planned 36-inch natural gas pipeline will connect new gas production from the emerging STACK and SCOOP fields in the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma to the nation’s interstate pipeline system.
The proposed pipeline will originate in southeastern Kingfisher County to a lateral line near Okarche. Its track will continue near El Reno in Canadian County and then southeasterly through Grady, Garvin, Stephens, Carter, Johnson and Bryan counties. The pipeline terminates near Bennington, a town of nearly 350 people located 22 miles east of Durant and about 12 miles north of the Texas state line.
Eventually, much of the gas will be cooled and liquefied for easier transportation to overseas markets, Midship officials said. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is non-toxic, non-flammable and its volume shrinks 600 times, according to information supplied by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The pipeline is expected to create 1,300 jobs during peak construction and up to 15 permanent jobs for pipeline operations and maintenance.
Cheniere Energy became the first company to ship LNG in 2016 from a commercial facility in the contiguous United States and has since shipped over 400 tankers of LNG to more than two dozen countries on five continents, according to Midship officials. U.S. Department of Energy data shows the U.S. is the world’s largest producer of natural gas.
Information supplied by Midship Pipeline estimates the company will pay upwards of $200 million in property taxes in the first 10 years of operation as a result of this planned pipeline. A number of energy companies have committed to pipeline usage, including Devon Energy Corp., Marathon Oil Corp., Cimarex Energy and Gulfport Corp.
