Wednesday, March 14, 2012 • Yorktown News-View • Page 5
NEWS-VIEWDEWITT
Major highway intersection to get four-way stoplight By COY SLAVIK News-View Managing Editor
Construction of KMCC pipeline spans seven-county region Project costs estimated $220 million
CUERO - A somewhat quieter, less flashy aspect of the search for petroleum in DeWitt County has been the construction of pipelines. For over a year the steady trek of pipelines has made its way west to east with plans to move oil and condensate to refineries on the coast. Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate Pipeline Project is a 61-mile new construction and 109-mile existing natural gas pipeline that will be converted to liquids. The 20”, 24” and 30” pipelines originate in Petrohawk’s Black Hawk Field in the Eagle Ford Shale. The line will extend to the Houston Ship Channel where it initially delivers condensate to multiple terminating facilities with access to local refineries, petrochemical plants and docks. The counties involved in this project include DeWitt, Victoria, Jackson, Wharton, Fort Bend, Harris and Brazoria. This project is estimated to cost $220 million and is scheduled to be completed in June. The pipeline will have a capacity for approximately 300,000 barrels per day and will initially transport 50,000 barrels per day of condensate for Petrohawk. Allen Fore, director of public affairs for KinderMorgan, spoke at Cuero Rotary Club recently. He said just over 21 miles of the KMCC pipeline project will travel through DeWitt County. There will also be a pump station constructed on Bell Road between Cuero and Yorktown. This station will provide pressure to transport condensate (and crude oil) from producers in the Eagle Ford
CUERO - Marla Jasek, transportation operations director for the Yoakum office of the Texas Department of Transportation, said Friday TxDOT has plans to install a four-way stoplight at the intersection of U.S. Highway 87 and State Highway 72 just outside of Cuero. The intersection was the sight of a fatal wreck March 3 and has been the scene frequent crashes as traffic had increased due to the oil and gas boom. “Whenever you put more vehicles through an intersection, you’re going to have more crashes,” Jasek said. “We’ve ordered the materials and we’re going to make it a fourway stop with our in-house crews. We’ll have flashing beacons everywhere and rubble strips on the pavement and ‘Stop Ahead’ on the pavement. We’re going to do everything we can to warn drivers there is going to be a stop condition.” TxDOT is currently installing a full traffic signal light at the intersection of State Highway 72 and Esplanade in Cuero. “We should get that signal up and running in the next week or two,” Jasek said. Jasek said TxDOT will pull the curb radius back at the intersection so 18-wheelers won’t run over the curb. She said similar work will be done at the intersection of Esplanade and FM 1447 near H-E-B to allow trucks to make wider turns. Jasek listed FM 240, FM 952 and State
Highway 72 are being targeted for repairs, according to Jasek. She said TxDOT will also perform a speed study on U.S. Highway 183 north of Cuero Community Hospital to see if the speed limit should be reduced. “In 2010, U.S. 183 just north of the hospital had about 6,600 vehicles per day,” Jasek said. “We took a count in December and we’re up to 14,000 per day.” Jasek said the FM roads have received extensive damage from large trucks. The recent rain is expected to make the high-usage roads to deteriorate even more. “It used to be only 10 to 20 percent trucks on these roads,” Jasek said. “Now it’s 50 to 70 percent trucks. “It’s not just affecting our major roadways, but it’s also affecting our FM roadways. FM 240 between Yorktown and Westhoff had 100 cars per day back in 2010. Now it’s over a thousand and it’s taking a toll on the roadway.” Jasek also stressed that drivers use extreme caution with the high amount of trucks on the roads. “We have inexperienced drivers,” Jasek said. “Probably everyone in this room has a story about something stupid a truck driver has done.” Jasek said TxDOT is limited by state budget cuts. “Our guys are doing their best to try to hold these roads together,” Jasek said. “We are facing budget issues. We’re trying to get to the damaged areas and take care of them.”
Deadline to make second-quarter tax payment is April 2 April 2 is the deadline for taxpayers that qualify to make their second quarter payment. The quarter payment program only applies to homesteads with an over 65 exemption or a disabled exemption. Under the quarter payment program, taxes are paid in four installments without penalty and interest. March is the month for renewals on annual plates (combinations, etc.). Those who have not received notices may bring in their annual plate number and the information on the vehicle it applies to. Those with truck-tractors with a weight of
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Kinder Morgan’s Allen Fore speaks to the Cuero Rotary Club recently. Shale to customers in the Houston Ship Channel. This station will cost $25 million to construct and will have 15,300 hp. The capacity of the station is 300,000 barrels per day. It covers about 99 acres. Constructing the pipeline has not been without constroversy. With the strength of eminent domain over landowners, KMCCPP has earned negative reaction from some landowners which may have to be decided in court. But as others have analyzed the project, when completed it should reduce the truck-tanker traffic on county roads considerably. Some have estimated when the pipeline is pushing 50,000 bbls. a day to
Houston, it could reduce over 300 truck transports per day. There is also the financial benefit of the project. The pipeline will deal with 61 landowners which means lease checks. The company also notes a large number of temporary construction jobs and it expects to pay about $863,000 in tax revenue locally. Fore said his company is also attempting to publicize Kinder-Morgan Foundation that provides grants to nonprofit youth programs in the communities where they have operations. He said additional information is available at their website: www.kindermorgan.com.
55,000 lbs or more must bring in proof of heavy use tax. Farm truck-tractors with a weight of 55,000 lbs must also show compliance with an IRS form 2290. There is not a fee, but the form must be completed and stamped. Instructions for completing the IRS form 2290 may be found at www.irs.bov/ instructions/i2290/index.html. A list of IRS offices may be found at www.irs.gov/localcontacts. For more information, contact the regional vehicle and registration division at 512-3745271.
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