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Organizers Oppose 9-Mile Jet Fuel Pipeline

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By MARK HOLAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 12, 2007

TAMPA - More than 100 people have signed petitions opposing construction of an underground jet fuel pipeline through central city neighborhoods to Tampa International Airport.

Dozens of other residents have called the city to voice opposition to the 9-mile pipeline, which would originate at the Port of Tampa, southeast of downtown.

"We consider this pipeline dangerous, unnecessary and unwanted," the petitions say in English and Spanish.

Nine pages of petition signatures were received Nov. 26 at Mayor Pam Iorio's office. Many petitioners listed West Tampa addresses north and south of the proposed pipeline route. Some signatures are from the same households; others didn't provide an address.

Rosalie Nocilla of West Braddock Street, one of the petition organizers, said signatures are still being collected.

"We just don't want this in Tampa - period," she said.

Tampa Homeowners, an Association of Neighborhoods, an umbrella organization of civic groups known as THAN, also sent a letter to Iorio in late November expressing "deep concern" about the proposed pipeline.

"We're primarily concerned about having neighborhoods torn up" to install the pipeline, association President Wofford Johnson said in an interview.

A consortium of airlines at TIA hired Houston-based Kinder Morgan to build the underground pipeline. In October, Kinder Morgan unveiled a proposed route that cuts through portions of Ybor City and West Tampa historical districts, as well as parts of Tampa Heights and Macfarlane Park.

A Kinder Morgan spokeswoman said the company will submit a new route proposal to the city early next year.

An underground fuel pipeline from Port Tampa, near MacDill Air Force Base, has supplied TIA since 1971, but the airlines say a second pipeline would help lower fuel costs, potentially lowering fares.

Tampa Pipeline Corp., owner of the existing line, has hired former city Councilman Bob Buckhorn to fight the second pipeline.

The airlines consortium has hired Tampa lawyer Rhea Law to shepherd the project through the city's franchise agreement and right-of-way process. Law, who stepped in as interim counsel of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority as the agency navigated a number of controversies over the past year, could not be reached for comment.

The council hasn't set a vote on the franchise agreement, but several callers have urged members to vote no, according to city records.

Reporter Mark Holan can be reached at (813) 835-2102 or mholan@tampatrib.com.

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