Dallas oil company HF Sinclair is exploring a new pipeline route that would move up to 95,000 barrels of refined oil a day through parts of Summit County.
Early maps Sinclair shared with local governments show it could cut through Wanship, Glenwild, Jeremy Ranch and down Interstate 80.
Surveyors have visited property owners to plan the route, which is not final. Summit County Manager Shayne Scott said Sinclair hasn’t applied for permits yet.
“When they do, we’ll make that very public, as public as we can,” he said at Wednesday’s county council meeting.
Although Summit County can’t veto the pipeline, called Project Westline Connect, the permitting process gives the county some say.
According to civil attorney Dave Thomas, Summit County has “robust” regulations because of a controversial pipeline proposal more than 10 years ago.
Tesoro, another Texas company, wanted a pipeline along the Weber River and through the Kamas Meadows.
The company unsuccessfully sued Summit County over its regulations, which Thomas said include large setbacks away from waterways.
“Tesoro partway through abandoned the pipeline because the price of oil went down, and it was no longer profitable for them to to do their waxy crude to the refineries,” he said.
County leaders say residents have emailed them with concerns about the latest proposal from Sinclair.
Community Development Director Peter Barnes said the company contacted him Monday to talk about how to communicate information to the public.
“There will be public hearings from the planning commission,” Barnes said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Tuesday. “At the moment, we do not even have an accurate map as to where the proposed line will go. We have an idea — there are high level maps out there — but we don't have an accurate map.”
Sinclair has said it wants to stick to existing oil and gas pipe routes, although it may need to get new easements along the way. Thomas said Utah law allows some private companies access to tools like eminent domain.
“And anyone who is using something for a public use as access to eminent domain,” Thomas said. “Oil pipelines are specifically called out in the eminent domain statute as a public use.”
The attorney described a late-summer meeting between Summit County, Sinclair and other local governments.
“I think it became apparent that we were the only ones who had that kind of robust regulation, and so we have shared that with Salt Lake County and other other entities,” Thomas added.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports opposition to Project Westline Connect is bubbling up along the Wasatch Front. Sinclair has already visited city councils there, and Scott said company representatives would like a similar meeting with the Summit County Council.
