Suppliers Prepare For Fuel Pipeline Shutdown Yellowstone Pipeline, Supplier Of 40 Percent Of Spokane’s Fuel, Shuts Off At Midnight Thursday

Major gasoline suppliers to the Spokane market were preparing Monday for shutdown of a pipeline that delivers 40 percent of Spokane’s fuel.

The expected termination of the Yellowstone Pipe Line at MIssoula has already affected Fairchild Air Force Base, which received its first shipments of jet fuel by truck Sunday evening.

At midnight Thursday, rights of way that the Yellowstone Pipe Line Co. holds across the Flathead Indian Reservation expire.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes voted last month not to renew the rights because of concerns about past spills on the reservation, which covers much of the lower Flathead Valley in Western Montana.

The largest of the spills, 10,000 gallons in January 1993, destroyed traditional food and medicinal plants.

If the right of way is not extended, the flow of gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products west of Missoula will be cut off.

Even if alternative ways of shipping are implemented, consumers may pay higher prices at the pump to cover increased costs.

The 10.75 inch pipeline stretches 558 miles from refineries in Billings to Moses Lake. About 21 miles cross tribal lands.

Conoco and Exxon Co. U.S.A. own 46 percent and 40 percent of the pipeline, respectively. Unocal Corp. owns the remaining share.

Conoco spokesman John Bennitt said the company has been stockpiling fuel in Spokane anticipating closure of the pipeline.

Conoco also has hired DSI Transport Inc. to truck fuel from a terminal in Missoula to a new facility in Thompson Falls where it can be dumped back into the pipeline, he said.

Bennitt said nine trucks will make a total 36 trips each day between the two Montana communities to fulfill Conoco’s needs.

“Volumes will not diminish,” he said.

Drivers, who have already driven over the route along Highway 200, will be rotated, he said.

Conoco has also been meeting with officials in communities along the route to determine what they want in the way of emergency response training and equipment, Bennitt said.

“They’ll be capable of immediate response,” he said, adding that Olympus Environmental Inc. of Spokane has been retained to provide backup services.

Bennitt said Conoco will move diesel and jet fuel to Spokane by rail car from Helena. The terminal there is not able to load gasoline onto rail cars, he said.

Conoco does not own any Spokane gasoline dealerships, but provides fuel to 20 outlets in the area, he said.

Although an environmental impact statement on the pipeline predicted a three or four-cent per gallon increase in gasoline prices should an alternative be needed, Bennitt said what happens in the market will depend more on competition, crude oil prices and summer driving activity.

“I would not predict anything,” he said.

Exxon spokesman Bruce Tackett said that company is still putting its plans in place while awaiting final word that the pipeline will be shut down.

“We are confident we can meet our customer needs,” he said.

Exxon has 30 branded stations in the Spokane area, but does not own any.

Tackett was also reluctant to anticipate what movement, if any, prices will make if fuel is hauled into the area by truck or train.

Until recently, Exxon provided gasoline to Texaco as part of a swapping arrangement. But Bob Dugger, regional marketing director, said the company on April 1 shifted to a Chevron-owned pipeline that reaches Spokane from Pasco.

Texaco wanted to sell more gasoline in Eastern Washington, he said, adding “It just happened to work out well.”

Texaco supplies gasoline to 27 dealers in the area, Dugger said.

At Fairchild, chief of supply Lt. Col. George Pollick said the base had unloaded eight trucks by mid-afternoon Monday and was expecting two more.

The base, which consumes 900,000 gallons of JP-4 per week as part of its air-refueling mission, will need deliveries by as many as 17 trucks per day to maintain its supply, he said.

Base tanks, normally filled directly from the Yellowstone Pipeline, can hold about one week’s worth of fuel.

The fuel is hauled 10 hours from Great Falls, Pollick said. The supplier is Montana Refinery Co.

He said Fairchild has long had a plan in case pipeline service was interrupted. Implementation involves reassignment of only a handful of base personnel who will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to offload the trucks, he said.

“We’re set up to do it anytime we need to,” Pollick said.