A representative from the oil company proposing to build a pipeline through Summit County said Tuesday that he is committed to working proactively and without rancor with the County, despite a legal complaint filed two weeks ago in federal district court.
“Our focus is to continue collaboration [with the County],” said Michael Gebhardt, vice
president of strategy and business development for Tesoro Refining and Marketing, the
owner and operator of an oil and petroleum-refining facility in Salt Lake County.
Gebhardt met with County officials Tuesday and Davis County officials Wednesday in an
attempt to answer questions in what he called a series of productive meetings with
stakeholders.
On June 25, the County Council passed three separate ordinances, including two
temporary land use ordinances that impose a six-month restriction on the placement of,
according to the county, “hazardous liquids or materials pipelines” within the county. The
ordinances, among other things, mandate setbacks and regulations that must be adhered
to.
A month later, Tesoro filed a complaint in federal district court against Summit County alleging that the county has infringed on its constitutional rights by enacting those ordinances that Tesoro argues are “arbitrary, capricious and illegal.” The oil company asks for judgment in its favor by having the ordinances be declared “null, void and of no effect,” according to the complaint.
Tesoro has historically trucked unrefined waxy crude oil from sites in the Uintah Basin to the Salt Lake City refinery, the complaint says. The company is proposing to build a 135-mile-long, heated pipeline, called the Uinta Express Pipeline, to transport about 60,000 barrels of waxy crude per day. It is slated to enter Summit County near Woodland, travel west through Francis, and then turn northward, bisecting the Kamas Valley.
Gebhardt repeated his assertions Tuesday that the complaint was not meant to incite
conflict with Summit County. After reviewing the ordinances, Gebhardt said
the defined way to appeal those decisions was to file in a court of jurisdiction within 30
days. Both the ordinances and the complaint are procedural issues, he said.
Summit County Attorney David Brickey said that even though he regularly holds closed-
doors briefings with County Council, that no decisions have been made on how to
respond to Tesoro’s lawsuit. Tesoro has given the county an “open-ended”
deadline, and he considers the complaint a “placeholder,” Brickey said.
Brickey struck a conciliatory tone with Tesoro, acknowledging the meetings Gebhardt
has held with other county officials. “They seem genuinely interested in what our
concerns are,” he said. “We appreciate that Tesoro wants to be collaborative.”
“Tesoro wants to build long-term relationships,” Gebhardt said. “We’re looking to
operate [here] for decades Tesoro will be committed to this until the very end.”
Tesoro hopes that the pipeline will be built and operational as early as 2016, Gebhardt
said.