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Manhattan Commission Views Pumping Station Plans
» Mary Bernhard - Manhattan American - 10.02.08


In a work session, the Manhattan Planning and Zoning Commission viewed plans for an Enbridge Energy Company Manhattan Pump Station for the Southern Lights Pipeline Project.

Enbridge, a company that is in the business of transporting crude oil, owns and operates the world's largest liquid petroleum pipelines.

"We are not an oil company," Mark Sitek, senior project director for Enbridge told the board. "We are in the business of transporting crude oil, in this case from Canada."

When asked why Manhattan was chosen for the station, Sitek explained that with the many existing pipelines running through Will County and Manhattan Township, the location for the pump station and tanks was optimal.

"In addition, the refineries in this area all use Canadian crude," Sitek added.

The pump station and its two, expandable to three, 250,000 barrel tanks would be built on a 65-acre parcel on Bruns Road west of Rt. 52. The original footprint of the plan will be on 32 acres, while the rest would remain agriculture.

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The tanks and pumping station would be tapped into the nearby Southern Lights Pipeline Project. The tanks and pump station would pump and transport light liquid petroleum (dilutents) from Manhattan to Alberta, Canada for use as a thinning agent to facilitate heavy crude oil transport by pipeline to the United States including Will County refineries. The pipeline is already under construction.

Sitek elaborated on the process explained that crude oil from Canada was too thick to move through the pipe-lines so the dilutents (thinner) are sent to Canada to mix with the crude to make it suitable for transport back to the United States.

Enbridge hopes to have the station operating by 2010.

In the overview presented, the pump station would have two, maybe three tanks, a pump building for noise buffering, security fencing, lighting design to reduce off-site illumination, remote site monitoring 24 hours a day, an automatic shutdown capability, fire water reservoir, loop and hydrants, an on-site foam supply and injection system, station and tanks landscaped and bermed.

"There will be two or three employees to man the station during normal business hours," Sitek said. Sitek also listed many safety features.

When asked if the Manhattan Fire Department had met with Enbridge and discussed issues, Sitek told the board Enbridge would be working with the Manhattan Fire Department.

"No additional equipment is needed," Sitek said. "We have to have the capability to respond to a worst-case scenario, so we work very closely with local fire districts."

Sitek also cited Enbridge's outstanding safety record. "Never in our history of over 50 years has any member of the public been hurt or killed."

When asked to elaborate on the size of the tanks, Sitek compared those of BP Amoco just north of the Enbridge location.

"Our tanks will be slightly smaller than those of the BP facility," Sitek said.

"We have been working with this project for a year," Village Administrator Marion Gibson told the board. "Originally they were looking at a site north of the original tanks."

"We were able to encourage them to go south of Bruns Road, farther away from residential areas," Gibson added.

Gibson also acknowledged that BP would be seeking zoning for an addition four or five tanks of its own in the future.

The work session will allow Planning and Zoning commissioners to formulate questions before Enbridge comes back to the October 28 meeting for a formal request for rezoning and a special use permit on the 32-acre footprint.

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