Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. is undeterred by increased pressure from climate change advocates to phase out fossil fuel use, CEO Linn Evans said Wednesday.

During a conference call to discuss fourth quarter results, Evans discussed the impact by opponents to fossil fuels and whether that could impact the natural gas utilities. He said he was “very comfortable” with the company’s local distribution companies (LDC).

“Our service territories are very cold climates that are below zero degrees right now, so life would be lethal without the gas that we serve,” he said. “We have not had any local bans on gas within our service areas, but we are certainly aware of conversations going on and we have highly engaged teams executing outreach programs within those...