A group of residents is organizing against a proposed new liquid propane distribution facility at the Rigby Rail Yard in South Portland and is hoping to convince the City Council to take steps to prevent the newly revised project.

The community group includes both City Councilor Brad Fox and Eben Rose, a candidate for the District 3 council seat this fall. Both men say they’re against the project because of the potential hazards, including explosions or leaks.

Last week NGL Supply Co. submitted a revised proposal for its planned liquid propane distribution facility to the city’s planning office.

The proposal calls for the construction of one, above-ground, 24,000-gallon storage tank, as opposed to the two, 60,000-gallon tanks the company originally asked for this past spring.

Rose took an outspoken stance against the project, and it was eventually determined that it did not comply with South Portland ordinances. And now, the company has come back with a scaled-down project that is still drawing fire from those concerned about bringing a “large amount of liquid propane gas into our residential neighborhoods,” according to Fox.

The revised proposal submitted by NGL Supply Co. on Sept. 21 says the liquid propane tank would be located next to a rail siding and the product would be pumped from the rail cars into trucks for local distribution.

In addition to the new above-ground tank, NGL Supply Co. would build an 1,800-square-foot office building and a 7-foot high security fence, along with a small parking area.

The site plan application also states that NGL Supply Co. already has a lease agreement with the Portland Terminal Co., which owns and operates the Rigby Yard, for a nearly 10-acre lot.

Kevin Fitzgerald, the regional operations manager for NGL Energy Partners, said the revised project is the result of listening “carefully to residents and officials in South Portland.”

It’s his opinion that the scaled-back proposal “conforms to all existing city ordinances.”

“We look forward to working with the Planning Board, code enforcement officer and residents to answer any questions and to cooperatively move this process forward,” he said.

“The proposed $3 million, state-of-the-art facility,” he added, “is designed to safely meet the high demand for clean-burning propane at over 50,000 homes and businesses throughout the Greater Portland region.”

Fitzgerald said NGL Supply Co. must relocate its Portland operations due to the state’s redevelopment of the Portland waterfront.

“We’ve worked closely with federal, state and local officials to carefully select the Rigby Yard (as our new) location,” he said.

Although the new proposal for South Portland provides less storage volume than the company initially requested, Fitzgerald said, “design changes will allow us to drive greater operational efficiencies. These changes reflect our commitment to work cooperatively with South Portland and to operate a facility that we believe complies with all existing ordinances.”

Stephen Puleo, South Portland’s community planner, told the Current he is unsure when his office will be done reviewing the new application, but did say the project would “probably be on the (Planning Board’s) Nov. 10 agenda.”

The group of residents organizing to fight the project don’t want to wait that long, however, and through Fox, have been asking City Manager Jim Gailey to set a workshop session to discuss their concerns.

That workshop could be held as soon as Oct. 14, but the schedule for upcoming workshops has not yet been finalized.

Fox told the Current this week he finds it disingenuous of NGL Supply Co. to say that only 24,000 gallons of liquid propane would be stored at the Rigby Yard at a time, noting that “on a daily basis” the company would be loading the product from between 24 and 30 tank cars.

In doing the math, Fox said, “The total amount of this liquid propane at Rigby (would be) 720,000 gallons minimum, so it is untrue that there will be only 24,000 gallons of liquid propane there in one tank, at one time.”

And, he argued, “If the South Portland ordinance protects us from more than one large tank of propane, does it not also protect us from many small tanks with a larger amount of propane than the one permitted? It would make no sense otherwise.”

Fox also believes that the “trans-loading method” that NGL Supply Co. would use to get the liquid propane to its customers “poses more potential danger than transferring liquid propane from one large tank because of the additional hoses, vapor compressors, etc. used by multiple tanks and delivery trucks.”

Overall, he said, “It’s the total amount of liquid propane at Rigby Yard and the constant loading of multiple delivery trucks that are at issue.”

But, in its new application to the South Portland planning department, the company describes its proposed Rigby facility as “a very simplistic operation.”

The application also states that NGL Energy Partners operates 22 liquid propane terminals in the U.S., along with one in Canada, and that the company is “expert in the construction, maintenance and regulatory compliance” of such facilities.

The company also said it’s expert in “the handling, storage and distribution of propane.”

However, Fox said, South Portland did not pass an ordinance in 1995 that limited onsite storage of propane “only to have it superseded by a rail tank car system that is inherently far more risky to the community, and one that makes monitoring and enforcement virtually impossible.”

Rose, whose voting district does not include the Rigby Yard, but who would represent the whole city if elected to the council in November, agrees with Fox.

“I am concerned for the safety of the residents surrounding Rigby Yard,” he said.

He said he has been working with city staff and the neighborhood “to try to prevent a potential catastrophe in the making” and one that he said “goes directly against our city’s comprehensive plan and our code of ordinances.”

Rose added, “A key shortcoming of this (new) proposal by NGL is that it ignores the fact that tank cars parked on the sidings of the proposed site are also storage tanks, according to city code, and the limit (for that) is 25,000 gallons.”

And, Rose said, “The residents of adjacent neighborhoods and the sentiments of at least a few city councilors speak clearly enough: ‘We don’t want it here.’”

Ernie Stanhope, the other District 3 council candidate this fall, said this week he had no comment about the new NGL proposal, adding, “I (would) need to gather more information.”

Thornton Heights resident Devin Deane said he and his wife are “very concerned” with the proposal and said his neighbors are meeting with the city’s fire chief this week “to discuss many of those concerns.”

The Thornton Heights neighborhood is located near the Rigby Yard, which is one of the busiest rail yards in New England.

According to its new site plan application, NGL Supply Co. hopes to get approval from the city for its facility this fall and begin construction this year with a completion date of early 2016.

In addition to site plan approval from South Portland, the company also requires a gas storage permit from the Maine Fuel Board and both a general construction and stormwater permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

However, in its application to the planning office, NGL states that the new liquid propane facility “is not expected to cause adverse impacts to the site, surrounding natural resources or the neighborhood.”

This overview shows the proposed location of a new liquid propane distribution facility within the Rigby Rail Yard in South Portland.Courtesy imageIf the NGL Supply Co. gets city approval, it would build a new liquid propane distribution facility at the Rigby Rail Yard in South Portland.File photo