Town may seek an end to fuel storage license with Winthrop
"They're making a serious amount of money off that land and there's going to be a hell of fight for them to walk away from that lease." - John Stackpole, Bulk Fuel Advisory Committee
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
In order to move the tank farm out of downtown, the Bulk Fuel Advisory Committee will advise the Board of Selectmen not to renew land owner First Winthrop's fuel storage license in 2010.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Viewed by many as a catastrophe waiting to happen, some of the 11 fuel storage tanks owned by First Winthrop are more than 60 years old, which is one of the reasons behind the plan to move bulk fuel storage out of town.

With no license to store bulk quantities of petroleum products in its 11 aging tanks (some dating back to the 1940s) behind the Grand Union supermarket, Winthrop would be compelled to either build another storage facility elsewhere on the island or allow its lessee, Harbor Fuel, an early exit from its lease which expires in 2018, the committee theorized.

Bulk Fuel Advisory Committee chairman Whitey Willauer said at the committee's Feb. 12 meeting that First Winthrop is willing to listen to the committee's evolving plans to build a bulk fuel storage farm outside of town, but has not made any decisions on the idea.

"They would be interested in offloading their tank farm if they could find a viable economic solution," Willauer said. "In other words, they're not adverse to having bulk fuel out here [east of the airport]. Their contract goes to 2018, but the town's license goes to 2010, so it looks like we could have a graceful transition from town to here, provided it worked for town businesses, [the airport] and Winthrop."

Willauer added that although First Winthrop is amenable to such discussions, it does not want to give up a moneymaking lease unless it would somehow benefit from its early termination. One door that remains open to many possibilities is that Stephen Karp has right of first refusal on all of it - the tank farm property on .16 of an acre at 8 New Whale St. and .17 of an acre at 9 New Whale St, according to Willauer.

But this may not be as easy as Willauer made it sound. As Bulk Fuel Advisory Committee member John Stackpole explained, a similar effort in 1988 to move the tank farm out of town, prompted by the selectmen and the state fire marshal, resulted in a failed lawsuit against First Winthrop that cost Nantucket Electric and the town around $1.5 million.

"I just can't get away from First Winthrop," said Stackpole. "They're making a serious amount of money off that land and there's going to be a hell of fight for them to walk away from that lease."

But Selectman Brian Chadwick alluded to the chance of quelling such a skirmish in telling the committee that Karp would be willing to facilitate a get-together with Winthrop and all parties to discuss a possible move of the tank farm out of town.

"What the Board of Selectmen should really consider is [saying], 'We're not really interested in renewing their license for the tank farm. Please take whatever steps you have to to eliminate this use,'" said Chadwick.

The impetus to move the toxic and flammable fuels to an out-of-town location is to remove the possibility of a catastrophic environmental spill into the harbor, and the potential for a devastating fire in downtown Nantucket. The committee's plan is to build storage tanks with a capacity of four million gallons that will contain most all grades of gasoline, some diesel, aviation fuel, jet fuel, home heating oil, low sulfur and ultra low sulfur diesel and propane.

A new tank farm could be built on three to five acres of town-owned land south of the Veterans of Foreign Wars property behind the airport. Originally, the committee had proposed to build such a tank farm and hook it up to an underground pipeline running to a single point mooring on the south shore where tanker ships would pump their cargo onshore. But the price tag of around $50 million, the numerous permits required and the potential for lawsuits convinced the committee recently that it could spend $11 million to build the tank farm on town property and ferry fuel across the island on tanker trucks.

The committee still needs to work out how to get the fuel to the island. Potential scenarios include either transporting the fuels on Steamship Authority ferries from Hyannis or having the SSA haul tanker trucks on one of its freight vessels from New Bedford.

Once on the island, the tanker trucks would drive out to the tank farm via Milestone Road to New South Road, a route that has Wannacomet Water Company Manager Bob Gardner nervous about the potential for spills that could leach into the aquifer, said Willauer.

With all of these issues to work out, the committee has at its disposal $250,000 in town funds to explore conceptual plans and permitting needed for the tank farm. The committee agreed that its first steps are to seek legal advice from Town Counsel Paul DeRensis; work out a hauling plan with the Steamship Authority; speak with Gardner; convince the rest of the selectmen that this is the way to go, and, not to renew Winthrop's fuel storage license in 2010.

"We probably should start looking at going ahead positively with this because we are going to have to do it

one way or another," said Willauer. I