Project to supply burgeoning Las Vegas market raises concerns about environmental impacts and safety

A 62-mile stretch of petroleum pipeline will soon snake its way through Tooele County to provide booming southern Utah and southern Nevada with fuel. But the project has upset some residents, causing concerns about environmental impacts and safety in the event of an accident.

The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of compiling a draft environmental impact statement for the Utah-Nevada (UNEV) Pipeline right-of-way application. The 400-mile, 12-inch buried pipeline will carry gas, diesel and jet fuel, and propane, from the Holly/Sinclair Refinery in North Salt Lake to North Las Vegas.

It is a joint project between Holly Energy Partners -- a provider of petroleum product transportation and terminal services based in Texas -- and Sinclair Oil, headquartered in Salt Lake City. Holly will own 75 percent and Sinclair will own 25 percent of the project.

Except for the northernmost part of the route, the pipeline will mainly follow the existing Kern River natural gas pipeline. However, Nicole Cline, Tooele County economic development director, said the proposed line in Tooele County will mostly follow the route of the Union Pacific rail line from SR-201 all the way down to Vernon Hills before setting off on its own course into Juab County.

Of the 62 miles of pipeline that will be in the county, roughly 34 are on private land, 22 on BLM land, 5 on state land, and only 1 mile on property owned by Union Pacific.

Two terminal stations are planned: one west of Cedar City to supply southern Utah, and the other in Las Vegas.

The pipeline will carry 62,000 barrels each day to begin, but its capacity is nearly double that at 118,000 barrels.

During last Wednesday's Tooele County Planning Commission meeting, Cline said regardless of whether or not the county approves the conditional use permit for the pipeline, the project will go forward. The company is applying for the permit because of the proximity to the railroad. By moving the route 300 feet outside of the railroad property line, the company wouldn't need a conditional use permit.

"It's coming -- period," Cline said.

Representatives with UNEV attended the meeting and fielded questions from the planning commission and the audience.

Jill Thomas, whose property in Grantsville isn't directly affected by the pipeline, is a strict opponent of the project, which she said doesn't benefit Tooele County residents.

"If southern Utah and Nevada need fuel, why do we have to put up with a pipeline running through our city for them to have it?" she said. "It doesn't help Tooele City or Tooele County."

Ann Jones, UNEV lead permit specialist, said the benefit to Tooele County is during the 30 to 60 days of construction in the county, when there will be 50 to 150 construction workers contributing to the economy as they work here.

Cindy Gubler, UNEV communications consultant, said there is a chance that in the future Tooele County would be able to tap into the pipeline as well.

"It's always a possibility, you just have to weigh what's economically feasible because there are the refineries right around the corner," she said.

Safety was a major issue brought up at the meeting. Residents were also concerned about the integrity of the aquifer if there was a gas leak or a break.

"My concern is the pipeline runs through 50 percent of the water source for the county. If there's an accident you'll contaminate water sources in a serious way," said Stansbury Park resident Randall Jones.

Officials with the project assured residents that while they can't guarantee 100 percent there won't be an accident, they have steps in place that will intercept a problem immediately.

"If there were an accident, we'll be on it very quickly and make all those actions happen before any fuel reaches the aquifer," said Don Davis, right-of-way manager representing UNEV. "We can't guarantee it [that there won't be an accident], but we'll do the best we can and be on it in 30 seconds."

The system has a number of different safety features, one of which is it can be shut off manually or automatically. Also, in areas of more urbanized development, the pipe will be thicker.

"Nothing is foolproof, and we can never say never, however we are following stringent guidelines by federal agencies, the largest being the BLM," Jones said.

According to Gubler, the draft EIS is expected to be out around October or November. However, Joe Incardine, national project manager for the BLM, predicted the draft will be out sometime in the late summer, after which there will be a 30-day public comment period. Gubler said construction on the pipeline is slated to begin in late fall of this year and be completed by summer 2009.

Incardine said in looking at potential routes, the main environmental issues they were concerned about were protecting wetlands and mitigating socioeconomic impacts because of the growing population of Tooele County.

Cline said the preferred route has always been following the railway.

"One thing that we looked at is what land has already been impacted that goes through the county like that, and the railroad is that," Cline said. "To go on another route would create a separate impact and where are we going to put it in the county that doesn't affect wetlands or the aquifers? I don't think there is such a place that exists."

Many of the citizens in attendance said the majority of their concerns stemmed from the public not being well enough informed about the project.

Thomas, who has a degree in environmental management, said her biggest concern is that people don't know what UNEV stands for and don't know what it means to them.

"With my background, if I don't pick it up, what is normal Joe Blow going to pick up," she said. "My biggest fear is that people don't have enough information."

A public scoping meeting held last August in Tooele was published in the newspaper, but was poorly attended.

More than 300 mailings went out to the people whose property would be directly affected by the pipeline to attend the county meeting last week.

A discussion of UNEV Pipeline is on the agenda for the Erda Township Planning Commission meeting for Wednesday.

swest@tooeletranscript.com