Logan County Ratifies Expansion of Crude Oil Storage Facility

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): The board meeting of the Logan County Commissioners has granted approval to Tallgrass Terminals, LLC for expansion of their crude oil storage facility in east Sterling.

The company had requested the County to amend the original conditional use permit so as to enable it to expand the storage capacity. The request also included permission to construct additional infrastructure including piping and measurement equipment. The Planning and Zoning Commission had approved the application by end-November after taking testimony from the company and neighborhood property owners. The company had mentioned in the application that expansion of storage facility is necessary on the back of the significant expansion in oil production in Weld County.

The original permit issued to the company allows storage of 1.3 million barrels of crude oil. The new permit will allow Tallgrass Terminals to store additional 0.8 million barrels at the facility located approximately 10 miles east of Sterling. The company has announced that it will construct four storage tanks- two of 250,000 barrels and another two of 150,000 barrels each capacity. The construction of the first additional storage tank will commence immediately, with additional tanks expected to be constructed next year.

In response to concerns raised about fire dangers at the facility, the Tallgrass Terminals operations manager Chance Luttrell stated that the facility stores 210,000 gallons of water on site to be used for extinguishing fire. In addition, the employees are provided adequate training in conjunction with the fire department officials to deal with fire event at the site.