SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Controversy over the Chevron pipeline that runs through Salt Lake City. Chevron has gotten federal approval to start up the line next week but city leaders say they feel left in the dark, that they didn't get the start up plan until after it had been approved.
Chevron's pipeline that cuts through Salt Lake has had it's share of problems. The pipeline had two leaks in six months dumping over 50,000 gallons of crude oil near red butte creek.
On Tuesday, Chevron submitted a start-up plan to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, PHMSA.
Chevron gave a copy of the plan to the Salt Lake City Mayor's office Thursday. Here's where things don’t sit well with Mayor Ralph Becker. He says, “We received this plan yesterday afternoon at three o'clock. The plan we received had already been approved.”
Becker’s not happy with PHMSA either. He says, “The federal agency responsible for pipelines, for this kind of pipeline, that has jurisdiction and the authority has approved the start up plan before Salt Lake City would be able to review the start up plan. Now that doesn't make us happy.”
Chevron Spokesman Mickey Driver says the company has performed extensive inspections, modified operational procedures, improved control center leak detection capability and implemented external surveillance processes. Those include cameras installed at Beck St., Red Butte, Little Mountain, and Kimball Junction that are monitored hourly.
Driver says the mayor's allegations regarding the start-up plan are false, “We got approval after the mayor got his copy.” He adds, “We have told the mayor and the news media for several weeks that we were working on a formal plan to submit to PHMSA to restart.” Driver concluded by saying, “We're confident that we'll satisfy the mayor, we're not going to speculate if the mayor says this, that or the other. We're working with the mayor, we're working with his staff and we're moving forward.”
Chevron will meet with the mayor on Monday. They plan to start up the pipeline Tuesday.
