Lockport to vote on crude-oil depot proposal

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A jogger runs on Centennial Trail near the site of a proposed crude oil depot on former Texaco property now owned by Chevron near the I & M Canal and Centennial Trail as seen Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, in Lockport. The tanks would be similar to the ones owned by Shell (seen above right). | Matthew Grotto~Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 28, 2012 8:17AM

LOCKPORT — The city council is set to vote next week on concept plans for a crude-oil depot on the former Texaco property.

The council will address the issue at a public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the third-floor boardroom of the Central Square building, 222 E. Ninth St.

Cogent Energy Solutions has submitted plans for a depot on 15 acres now owned by Chevron. Crude oil would be brought in by rail and then piped to new tanks similar to the existing tanks owned by Shell Pipeline Co.

Six new crude tanks are planned for the property.

Crude oil would arrive by rail, on the Canadian National and BNSF railways, and go out by pipeline, or would be moved out by barge.

A rail spur is proposed for the property.

An additional five tracks would be installed for the stacking or storage of cars. Anywhere from 29 to 34 cars would be stacked on each track. There also is potential to add another two storage tracks storing up to 60 cars each.

The plan also proposes seven bridge-culverts for the new track adjacent to the existing Canadian National lines and to cross over the various creeks on the property, said Kimberly Jones, community development director, in a city staff report.

Rail transport

Randy Balhorn, a representative for Cogent, presented the concept plan at last week’s city council meeting.

“Cogent was formed in 2008 to participate in the opportunities to transport crude oil by rail,” Balhorn said. “Today we lease about 400 rail cars that are in service, moving crude oil from Canada and North Dakota to various points in the United States. And we also develop projects like the terminal in Lockport.”

“The terminal will consist of six new crude-oil tanks and connections to Shell’s facility,” he said. “Products and activities are similar to the existing operations in the area. It will handle crude oil and condensates.”

Condensate is like crude oil, but is produced in making natural gas, Balhorn said.

Balhorn also addressed the issue of truck traffic: “Other than during the time of construction, there won’t be any trucks moving in and out. Maybe once in a while — maintenance or something like that — there will be a truck. It would be impossible to know how frequent they would be. It would be very small. When you look at the diagram, you will see there are no facilities for loading trucks or receiving trucks. So we don’t have trucks.”

Support for plan

Bill Molony, who chairs the plan and zoning commission, supported the plan at the Jan. 10 meeting.

“The reality is: Crude oil is coming out of the ground up in Alberta, Canada, faster than the existing pipelines can handle it, to take it anywhere. The railroad industry is gearing up big time — track equipment, infrastructure, trains — to handle that oil and transport it,” Molony said.

“Does it have to come to Lockport? No, it really doesn’t. They can ship that by train west over to British Columbia, put it on a boat and send it to China … In the meantime, we are importing oil to the United States from Persian Gulf countries that don’t like us very much. So I’m kind of the opinion that the more oil we can bring in from Canada, means the less oil we have to bring in from the Persian Gulf or offshore drilling.”

Proposal has foes

At a meeting where the planning and zoning commission approved the project, resident Sandy Burcenski had urged commissioners to reject the plan. She lives just south of the former Texaco property.

Burcenski expressed concern about possible flooding. She also worried about increased noise and traffic.

Members of CARE have written letters to The Herald-News saying the facility will create environmental hazards.