Guest Column: Julie A. Gill
In the early 1980s, storage capacity for petroleum-based products in Rhode Island was 350 million gallons. During the ’80s and right into the late ’90s, tank yard after tank yard was closed and dismantled. At the moment, the state’s storage capacity is 110 million gallons. These tanks hold heating oil, diesel, jet fuel, gasoline, kerosene, liquid asphalt and other chemicals.
The Oil Heat Institute Inc. of Rhode Island is alarmed by the fact that our storage capacity is now less than one-third of what it was just 20 years ago, while the state population has increased by more than 10 percent during that same time period. Rhode Island is now in a situation in which an unexpected weather or other event could cause a disruption of the supply for any of the above-mentioned products that are so necessary to the economic well-being of our state and the health and safety of its citizens.
When demand is high, heating oil and tanker trucks must wait in long lines at the few remaining terminals to fill their trucks, sometimes up to two hours. That expense – which is directly related to the number of deliveries made by a given tanker trunk – is passed on the consumer. The fewer the deliveries made, the higher the cost per shipment of the product. Closing another terminal will make the lines and the waits even longer than they are now.
If Rhode Island does lose more storage, tanker trucks would have to transport product over the road to replace that delivered by water. Not only would that greatly increase road traffic on already congested freeways, but it would also increase the number of traffic accidents — with potentially fatal results, especially with gasoline and jet fuel. As a result, the cost to purchase product would be dramatically increased for everyone.
A critical point is that it would be a serious mistake to assume that ports in Massachusetts and Connecticut could supply us with any product at all, especially in adverse weather conditions. Both states have experienced a similar dismantling of storage facilities.
In fact, in 2006, 327 million gallons of No.2 heating oil came into Rhode Island. Approximately one-half of that, 163.5 million gallons, was used here, with the rest going to Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Annual sales of No.2 heating oil in Rhode Island total about $441,450,000, with an estimated payroll for the work force involved in the trade of $38 million. This revenue figure does not include any other fuels. It is clear that should more storage facilities close, the loss of revenue and jobs would do serious harm to the state’s economy.
Sprague Energy, the storage facility that stands to lose in the immediate future if the Providence working waterfront is changed, is the only terminal in the state that sells heavy oil. The electric power plants, hospitals, institutions, colleges and large industrial businesses need heavy oil to operate. Most of the heavy oil users actually use natural gas as their main source for heat, but when supply is tight, the gas company turns them off, and they need to switch to their backup heating source – heating oil.
Without Sprague Energy, these places would have nowhere to turn for their supply. Do we shut down Hasbro Children’s Hospital? Do we shut down the University of Rhode Island? Do we shut down the power plants that supply our electricity?
The Port of Providence is not only a valuable waterfront property. Nor is it just an economic engine.
The Port of Providence is the lifeblood of the entire state. If you destroy the Providence Working Waterfront, you will send the entire state into a deadly spiral, severely damaging its economy and far more importantly, the health and safety of its citizens. Are you willing to take that risk? •
Julie A. Gill is the acting executive director of the Oil Heat Institute Inc. of Rhode Island. This article is adapted from public testimony she gave last week before the Providence City Council Ordinance Committee.
