Development Committee Gives Final Approval To Walnut Hill Crude Oil Transfer Station

July 1, 2012

The Escambia County Development Review Committee has given final approval for an energy company  to build a crude oil transfer station that could eventually mean about 30 new high paying jobs. The Escambia County Planning Board and the Escambia County Commission  previously approved a rezoning request for the project.

Genesis Rail Systems, LLC  will build the facility on 20 acres that fronts Corley Road near Arthur Brown Road. The property was chosen because it is at the intersection of an existing crude oil pipeline and the Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway.

For a photo gallery from the site, click here.

Crude oil will be shipped in rail tanker cars from the north — including oil fields in Monroe and Escambia counties in Alabama — and be offloaded at the Walnut Hill facility into a 100,000 barrel storage tank before being injected into the existing Genesis pipeline for transport to refineries along the Gulf Coast.

According to project plans, the facility will create 25-30 or more well paying full time jobs in the community, plus positive economic impacts from constructions and ongoing expenditures. Hundreds of people stood in line back in early June when the company took applications for the jobs.

Plan drawings for the facility show that the large crude oil storage tank will be surrounded by a lined containment area designed to catch storm water runoff and, in a worse case scenario, any leak, preventing any contamination to the surrounding area. The facility will also include the pumping equipment, a 1,500 square foot administration building and a 45-space gravel parking lot.

To support the planned oil transfer station, the Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway is currently constructing an additional rail spur parallel to tracks that run along Corley Road from Arthur Brown Road.

For a photo gallery from the site, click here.

Pictured: Work at and near  the future site of a crude oil transfer station in Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

2 Responses to “Development Committee Gives Final Approval To Walnut Hill Crude Oil Transfer Station”

  1. 429SCJ on July 2nd, 2012 9:18 pm

    I was looking at the field in Jay where once stood an Exonn refinery where I once worked. You would never have know it was ever there.

    30 lives will improve, those of their famalies, the waitress they leave a better tip for, the barber, the dentist, the offering plate and you get the picture. Every little bit helps.

  2. someguy on July 2nd, 2012 1:46 am

    “According to project plans, the facility will create 25-30 or more well paying full time jobs in the community”

    Too bad that the majority of people who need work in this community lack the qualifications required and these jobs will be given to others outside the Walnut Hill area.