Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Group Seeks Permits for Grays Harbor Oil Terminal

By Mark Edward Nero

US Development Group, a Texas-based rail logistics and terminal facilities developer, has filed paperwork seeking permits to build an $80 million oil terminal at the Port of Grays Harbor.

The company, which has already developed over a dozen bulk liquid facilities in the US, says it filed permit applications with the city of Hoquiam April 7 to begin a process that includes an environmental review process by the city and Washington state Department of Ecology.

The proposed Grays Harbor Rail Terminal project would bring about one unit train to the facility every two days. A unit train typically has 120 rail cars and each car can hold about 28,000 gallons.

If constructed, the Grays Harbor facility could handle about 45,000 barrels of crude oil daily, USDG says, all of it brought in by train from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana.

The Grays Harbor Rail Terminal is the third crude-by-rail facility proposed at the Port of Grays Harbor. In January, Westway Terminal Co. and Imperium Terminal Services each launched Environmental Impact Statements for proposed projects.

If all three facilities are built and operate at capacity, between nine and 12 crude-by-rail trains would arrive at Grays Harbor per week, according to the port and result in 100 to 150 vessel calls, as opposed to 97 in 2012, the most recent year for which data is available.

About 17 million barrels of oil were shipped across Washington State in 2013, primarily to refineries in Anacortes and Cherry Point near Bellingham, according to data.