BLM makes final pipeline decision

BLM makes final pipeline decision

Oct. 30, 2001

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

New liquid petroleum products will begin traveling through Montezuma County soon.

This month, the BLM signed a record of decision approving the Questar, Williams, & Kern River Pipeline Project that extends from northern New Mexico to Salt Lake City, Utah.

The new products will travel along an existing 10-inch Williams pipeline constructed in 1981. The pipeline runs through both private and public lands in Montezuma County. With the BLM’s approval, Williams will now begin transporting refined petroleum products such as jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline nearly 235 miles from Bloomfield, N.M., to Crescent Junction, Utah.

Williams currently is transporting natural gas along the pipeline from Utah to New Mexico.

Williams will also construct four new pump stations along the pipeline. One of the new pump stations would lie on BLM land south of the New Mexico-Colorado border, one west of Durango on private land, a third on BLM land north of Moab, and the fourth near Crescent Junction.

Williams plans to modify the existing pump stations, and begin construction of its terminals at Crescent Junction and Nephi over a two-year period.

Five existing stations at Ignacio, Dolores, Dove Creek, Lisbon, and Moab would be modified by adding new pumps and piping, and new valves would be installed. The Southwest Colorado section would be retrofitted with a total of 43 valves.

The pipeline runs through an electric-transmission utility corridor between Mancos and Dove Creek, crossing private, BLM, and Forest Service land, and would carry up to 100,000 barrels of refined petroleum products per day. Each barrel holds 42 gallons.

The terminal at Crescent Junction is a 50-acre facility that will store the transported petroleum products, which will be trucked out to the retail market from there.

At a March public meeting held at the Anasazi Heritage Center local residents expressed dissatisfaction with the noise, smell, and lights of the current pumping stations, and the failure of Williams to finish reclaiming private land. They also questioned the pipeline’s ability to handle new petroleum products without corroding the existing pipeline, and addressed other safety issues.

LaVerne Steah, the BLM project manager for the proposal, said citizens’ concerns were addressed in the final environmental impact statement and record of decision.

"There are a lot of safety measures that were incorporated into this pipeline proposal, which is above and beyond the normal process. We tried to incorporate mitigation measures for the pipeline to be as safe as possible," said Steah.

The final environmental impact statement corrected an earlier error and admitted that the new pumps would create noise levels of up to 64.7 decibels. This would raise the noise level at nearby residences past the 55 dBA standard.

But the impact statement said that Williams committed in a May letter to reducing noise at the Dolores pump station with new- or modified-horsepower installations.

It also promises that the pipeline would be routinely monitored and inspected for corrosion and pipeline damage. Steah said the existing pipeline has been tested several times for safety and corrosion, and that she thought residents’ worries may be unfounded.

"I think you get a lot of claims, but I don’t know how valid they are," said Steah. Steah said that Williams plans to begin building and refitting the pipeline for the new products sometime next year, or possibly this fall — weather permitting.

Bob Bement, one of the landowners near Mancos whose property is crossed by the pipeline, commented at the March public hearing. He is concerned that the new petroleum products, if they leak, would damage the soil. Williams also has yet to complete reclamation efforts on Bement’s property, which includes reseeding over the existing buried pipeline.

Bement thinks the BLM should enforce the same environmental standards for private property owners as are enforced on public land.

The BLM answered Bement’s concerns in the impact statement by saying that they cannot legally enforce regulations on private land. Bement pointed out, though, that the final impact statement requires the pipeline companies to revegetate private land and repair any damaged livestock fences, gates and brace panels to the owner’s satisfaction.

"They (Williams) just don’t give a hoot about the private landowners, and they’re supposed to take care of us," said Bement.