The ConocoPhillips trucking center and storage area in Jenks recently obtained a specific-use permit to install as many as a dozen 12-by-23-foot ethanol storage tanks.
ConocoPhillips spokesman Bill Graham said ethanol increases the fuel supply and improves energy security because it is produced locally, unlike foreign oil.
Gasoline is piped in to the storage site, but the ethanol will be delivered via trucks and blended with the fuel at the loading rack, Graham said.
The company plans to construct underground pipelines from the storage tanks to a fuel transfer and loading area that crosses Polecat Creek.
An interior roadway will be built for ethanol delivery trucks, and an earthen berm will be constructed to prevent any spills from reaching the creek.
According to a staff report, an earth-change permit will be required as well as certification that there will be no effect
on the floodplain.
An environmental permit through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also could be required.
The operation, at 10600 S. Elwood Ave., is zoned light industrial and existed before 1972.
Although it is considered to be nonconforming with the city code now, the operation is legal because it existed before the city adopted its zoning rules.
About 97 trucks now go to the facility daily. About seven to 10 more a day will do so when ethanol is delivered to the facility, records show.
Records show that the Jenks City Council has asked its staff members to develop requirements that would stop the use of noisy "Jake brakes" on the city's truck routes.
City planner Robert Bell said the council permitted ConocoPhillips to store ethanol tanks on several conditions, including that the com pany:
--Construct an interior concrete roadway to prevent trucks from tracking gravel onto Elwood Avenue.
--Provide foam suppression material specific to ethanol-based fires at its own expense and that it submit an emergency firefighting plan to the Jenks fire chief for review.
--Require flashing signs to warn motorists of the truck terminal.
--Implement an alternate truck route to avoid interfering with traffic on Main Street due to planned construction at the Elwood-Main intersection, a traffic light project at Nogales and Main streets, and a bridge upgrade on Main Street over Hager Creek just west of Elwood.
The existing bridge is not designed for the weight of the fuel trucks, Bell said.
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Susan Hylton 581-8381
susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com
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