With piles of oil pipeline stacked in a field west of Winfield waiting and ready to be buried in Cowley County soil, spokesmen for the TransCanada Keystone Oil Pipeline Project appeared before county commissioners Tuesday evening in an attempt to get some paperwork in order.
"Here in Cowley County we’re ready to go and ready to get to work," Jim Prescott, a consultant for TransCanada, told commissioners.
However, not everyone was anxious to sign off on a road crossing and hauling permit agreement sought by the oil company.
County Commissioner Gary Wilson raised objections that the company had only provided the commission with a copy of the $1 million bond that protects county property – such as roads and bridges – from damages they might sustain due to increased truck traffic and installation of the pipeline.
TransCanada has been instructed to avoid using roads with historic stone arch bridges, according to county administrator Leroy Alsup. Wilson said a copy of the document would not suffice.
"As a business man I can’t in good conscience approve this until we have the bond in hand," Wilson said. "This is not how I do business."
Commission Chair Alan Groom agreed with Wilson, but moved to give the company a temporary permit so they can start work Wednesday. The temporary work permit, which can be revoked if problems arise, allows TransCanada to begin the pipeline installation immediately. TransCanada’s spokesmen said not having the bond in place was simply a matter of waiting for it to arrive at their offices by mail.
Alsup said TransCanada had already made a good faith effort by purchasing gravel for county roads it will use for hauling equipment. Truck routes have also been mapped out.
The pipeline, already approved by the state and federal government, will run north/south along 31st and 41st Road, or roughly two miles west of U.S. Highway 77. Once it reaches Arkansas City, it will skirt around the town a little farther west. The Kansas portion of the pipeline will stretch from southern Nebraska to Cushing, Okla., said Alsup. Eventually, the 4,000-mile pipeline will connect with the Gulf Coast.
Although the company can get started, this does not mean everything is settled where property taxes are concerned, which Alsup reminded commissioners was a "completely separate issue."
The six Kansas counties who will share the pipeline are objecting to the state’s decision to grant the company a 10-year tax exemption, amounting to around $15 million – $1-3 million per county – in potential annual losses for those county governments. Every other state the pipeline passes through is requiring the company to pay taxes, said Alsup.
The state was not justified in making such a deal, especially without first performing an economic impact study, said Alsup.
Each of the six counties ? Washington, Clay, Dickinson, Butler, Cowley and Marion ? are planning to fight the exemption before the state board of tax appeals as soon as TransCanada formally applies.
