Oil Companies Weigh Cost Of Replacement Pipeline New Route Would Bypass Indian Land Declared Off Limits By Tribes

Yellowstone Pipe Line Co. owners do not yet know if a segment of petroleum pipeline closed last spring will be replaced, an official for the partnership said this week.

David Vanderpool, a pipeline engineering expert, said the oil companies that deliver petroleum products from Montana to Spokane and Moses Lake through the Yellowstone conduit are studying the costs of adding new pipe between Missoula and Plains.

The new route would replace a portion that has been closed since last April, when a 40-year right-of-way agreement with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation expired.

Negotiations for renewal of the pact were terminated by the tribes in October. The pipeline crosses 56 miles of reservation land.

In the meantime, the companies have trucked gasoline and other refinery products the 100-mile distance from Missoula to Thompson Falls, where they are put back into the pipeline.

The Yellowstone pipeline, which originates near Billings, delivers about 40 percent of the petroleum products used in Spokane.

Spokesman John Bennitt said Conoco’s shipments to Spokane have increased despite the bottleneck. A truck involved in the only mishap since the shipments began suffered a minor leak, but no cargo was spilled, he said.

But to improve safety, Bennitt said Conoco is building a $1 million facility at Helena that will allow the company to fill rail cars with gasoline and use them instead of trucks. The rail cars will be unloaded at Thompson Falls.

He said the Helena facility will be open to the other companies that send products through the pipeline.

Bennitt said shipping by rail will be cheaper than trucking. But he noted that increased transportation costs did not show up at the pump in Spokane, where intense competition has kept gasoline prices down.

Conoco owns 46 percent of Yellowstone Pipe Line. Texaco is the other major owner.

Neither Bennitt nor Vanderpool could say when a decision on a long-term solution to the pipeline closure will be made.

Replacement will probably cost around $25 million, about what the pipeline owners were offering the tribes for renewal of the right of way, Vanderpool said.

He said the segment idled by the dispute with the tribes has been cleaned out and filled with nitrogen to suppress any potential fires. The pipeline company is discussing what additional measures, if any, will be necessary to satisfy environmental concerns with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he said.

Vanderpool said Yellowstone’s final right-of-way plan provided for state-of-the-art environmental protections.

But tribal Chairwoman Rhonda Swaney said reliability and remediation issues were unresolved.

“The environmental concerns were overriding,” she said.

If the pipeline is not replaced, Vanderpool said it will be up to the other shippers to make their own arrangements for continuing the flow of fuel.

, DataTimes