Bulk Fuel Committee explores new plan for bulk fuel storage
INFRASTRUCTURE
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Delivering most of the island's fuel from an offshore tanker to airportbased storage tanks is no longer an economically viable option for the Bulk Fuel Committee.

The Bulk Fuel Committee is now working toward a more efficient version of the traditional transport of home-heating and vehicle fuels to the island that could include the Steamship Authority's hauling tanker trucks out of New Bedford.

"We've got an existing system that is probably the most cost-effective," said Bulk Fuel Committee member and selectmen chairman Whitey Willauer at the committee's Jan. 16 meeting.

The committee, which could not vote on its new direction because members did not post the meeting in the Town Building, began last Wednesday morning working out the issues it would have to resolve to bring a majority of the island's petroleum products to the island by tanker truck and store them in a proposed four-million-gallon tank farm on airport property.

"I think there are two ways to go here," said Bulk Fuel Committee member John Stackpole, president of Harbor Fuel, which currently barges fuel to the island and stores it in storage tanks behind the Grand Union on land it leases from Winthrop Management. "One is to revisit the whole downtown area and see where you're going to go, and two is to barge. For the amount, I don't think it would be bad to have it out here [at the airport]. I think it's economically viable. It would open up the waterfront and it would be less liability in terms of insurance."

Originally, the Nantucket Airport Commission proposed to build a bulk fuel tank farm on airport property on the southeast side of the airport off Bunker Road that would contain most grades of gasoline, some diesel, aviation fuel, jet fuel, home heating oil, low sulfur and ultra low sulfur diesel and propane. These fuels would be delivered to Nantucket three or four times a year between April and November by fuel tanker, which would attach itself to a mooring three miles off the South Shore and pump the fuels to the tank farm through a submarine pipeline.

The Airport Commission estimated the cost of this project, which would take five to seven years to permit and build, at $50 million. Not wanting to wait that long and spend that amount of money, the Bulk Fuel Committee is proposing to spend $11 million to build just the tank farm, either on airport property or on a town lot nearby.

For Harbor Fuel to move its fuel storage out to the airport, it would have to find a way out of its lease with Winthrop Management, which does not expire until 2018. And although Stackpole told the rest of the committee that the lease would be tough to get out of, fellow committee member Brian Chadwick said that Winthrop Management is currently speaking with a potential buyer of those lots. Winthrop Management could not be reached for comment.

Stackpole stressed that moving bulk storage of fuels away from downtown becomes more urgent with each passing year, as the tanks that store these fuels are aging. Half of them were built in the 1940s and the newest erected in the 1960s. They require near constant maintenance, he said.

Currently, Harbor Fuel's barge loaded with the various fuels for Nantucket originates from New York City Harbor and makes several stops at fuel depots along the way. This process can be slow, as the barge must wait in line at each filling station before journeying to Nantucket. This forces Stackpole to make his best estimate on what the island's fuel needs will be months in advance in order to keep Nantucket's supply at a constant level.

Switching to tanker truck transportation of these fuels could simplify the process, reasoned the committee, and moving the tank farm out of town would remove the danger for fire and environmental disaster.

Working toward this revised goal, before the next meeting on Feb. 12, the committee is going to speak with Winthrop Management about Harbor Fuel's lease, find out about getting loans for the $11-million price tag and

check into storage container options. I