Watershed at a Glance. The Cannon River watershed is located south of the Twin Cities and encompasses areas of Dakota, Goodhue, Le Sueur, Steele, Rice and Waseca counties. The watershed drains approximately 1,460 square miles through two main channels, the Cannon and Straight Rivers, to the Mississippi at Red Wing.
While some large industrial, commercial, and electric generation customers receive natural gas directly from high capacity interstate and intrastate pipelines (usually contracted through natural gas marketing companies), most other users receive natural gas from their local gas utility, also called a local distribution company (LDC).
Natural gas comprised 27 percent of U.S. energy use in 2014 and is most commonly used to produce heat or electricity for buildings or industrial processes. Less than two percent of U.S. natural gas is used as a transportation fuel, typically for bus fleets. Natural gas is also used to produce fertilizer, paints, and plastics. The United States produces around 19.8 percent of the worldâs natural gas and consumes about 21.5 percent.