BISMARCK, ND - 2/17/2009 - Dave Goodin, president and CEO of Montana-Dakota Utilities Co., Great Plains Natural Gas Co., Cascade Natural Gas Corp., and Intermountain Gas Company, announced today that the utility group will go through an integration plan that will result in the streamlining of processes, elimination of some existing programs and subsequently, a reduction of work force.

The integration process began in October 2008 and included employee group input. Results of that process were announced to employees Monday.

“We announced a plan to best position our utility group for the future by pursuing best practices and employing technological advances while addressing the current economic uncertainties that affect our business and those around us,” Goodin said.

“The goal of the integration is to help make us an efficient, stream lined organization that continues to provide outstanding customer service at the least cost possible,” Goodin said. “We added two utility companies about the same size as Montana-Dakota, and have learned a number of best practices from each other that will help strengthen us for the future and keep costs down to benefit our customers.”

Over the coming months, the company will consolidate five call centers into two, sell the Cascade office building in Seattle and relocate the Cascade general office to a community within its service territory, eliminate customer walk-in traffic at all offices for Montana-Dakota, Great Plains and Intermountain, and exit some ancillary services. This will result in a work force reduction of an estimated 130 employees across the utility group in eight states over the next nine months.

Media Contacts:

Montana-Dakota Utilities and Great Plains Natural Gas: Mark Hanson at (701) 530-1093 or mark.hanson@mduresources.com

Intermountain Gas Company: Brent Wilde at (208) 377-6053 or Brent.Wilde@intgas.com

Cascade Natural Gas Corporation: Larry Rosok at (206) 381-6711 or Larry.Rosok@cngc.com