A Casper company is planning to build a facility in Fort Laramie that will transfer oil from pipelines onto trains.
Bridger Pipeline Vice President Tad True is part of the team that’s working on the project. He says the goal is to get crude oil from Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and Alberta, to markets in places that lack pipelines.
“Quite simply, the pipelines can’t get built fast enough to the markets they need to go to, namely the west coast and the east coast,” True said.
He says the oil loading terminal is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and will employ 35 to 50 people.
But some community members worry about noise, pollution, and traffic that the facility might bring. Jill Morrison with the Powder River Basin Resource Council says she’s not pleased with the air quality permit application that the company submitted to the Department of Environmental Quality.
“There are some pretty significant errors in the proposed air quality permit,” Morrison said, adding that she believes the company has underestimated the emissions that the facility will produce.
Officials in charge of the project say they’re working hard to minimize negative impacts on the environment and the neighboring community.
The DEQ is accepting public comments on the facility’s air quality permit through Friday.
