Anyone who's driven Route 460 between Lynchburg and Roanoke has seen the giant fuel tanks along the highway in Montvale. They're fed by a spur of an interstate pipeline.
That spur of the Colonial Pipeline will be shut down next year, and that could mean higher prices at the pump.
Since the 1960’s, Colonial has been delivering gas and diesel fuel via pipeline across Central Virginia to a tank farm in the Bedford County community of Montvale. From there, tanker trucks move it to gas stations all over Southwest Virginia.
Betty Karnes has spent most of her life in the small town. She remembers when the first tanks went up.
“There was quite a to-do over it,” she said. “There was a promise of maybe a little bit of the oil tanks coming in – like a tank or two, and that would help develop Montvale, it would give them revenue to work with for other things.”
Betty’s office with the local water company sits on U.S. Route 460 - right across from a number of those tanks.
She says the fuel line has meant jobs, but the revenue is not what many in Montvale had originally hoped.
Jim Campbell, owner of Campbell Parts and Salvage in Montvale, leases land to tanker trucks that deliver that gas, and also services those large trucks.
“I think the economic impact of what would happen if there was no more gas in Montvale, would be significant enough where something needs to be done about it," he said.
Colonial announced in August that it was closing down the 80-mile pipeline next year, saying it’s not worth the $200-to-300 million in required repairs. The company started up a website detailing the process.
If that does happen, companies that pick up their fuel in Montvale will have to get it from Colonial’s next-closest terminals - in Richmond, and Greensboro, North Carolina.
The added cost of making that trip – including federal stipulations on how long truck drivers can stay on the road – would likely be passed on at the pump.
If the fuel line closes in 2018, the owner of five Roanoke area gas stations expects to raise prices 8 to 10 cents a gallon.
“If the line shuts down, it’s our main source of fuel into the Roanoke Valley,” said Andy Gill. But he hasn’t given up hope the decision might be reversed, suggesting federal subsidies could help pay for line repairs.
“I’m thinking the government might step in and say this to too big of a resource to be wasted,” he said.
But the President of the Virginia Petroleum, Convenience, and Grocery Association, Mike O’Connor, says the best shot for saving the pipeline is through the state legislature.
He met recently with Congressman Bob Goodlatte, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, who said there was little the federal government could do.
O'Connor calls it an unprecedented situation.
I think to say this is moving under the radar screen is probably an understatement,” he said. “If you look at all of the history of all of the moving of petroleum, transportation in the United States, we’ve never closed down a pipeline of this nature before.”
The Deputy Director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin agrees.
Michael Webber also questions why Colonial didn’t address needed repairs on what's known as Line 25 over the years.
“I don’t know if that wasn’t done or something, or they didn’t do enough of it, or maybe conditions changed, or maybe environmental regulations became stricter, that was unexpected, or safety regulations,” he said. “Maybe the terrain is colder or something, and so the ground is freezing and shifting. These are all things that can change the stresses on a pipeline.”
Colonial spokeswoman Melasia Dunn says there may be a chance another company purchases the pipeline, only saying Colonial is in discussions with “other interested parties.”
Meanwhile, back across US Route 460, Betty Karnes and her friend Penny Best are working on building a local heritage group called the Montvale Area Matters Project.
Originally meant to save an old school building, Best says they’ve shifted their focus once learning of Colonial’s plans.
"If we have a field full of abandoned tanks and pipes over there, it’s only going to add the view that people already have, that this is a depressed and depressing area, and we are so much more than that,” she said.
A spokesman for Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality says if the line is closed – the affected companies would only have to test their tanks for petroleum contamination, but are under no obligation to remove the structures themselves.
