Chapter 5 Page CRITERIA FOR COMPARING ALTERNATIVE TERMINAL SYSTEMS (Cont'd.) Legal Considerations 26 26 26 26 33 33 34 Environmental 35 Terminals Outside of Delaware Bay 36 Visual Effects Terminals in Delaware Bay Toxic Effects of Petroleum Probable Effects on Land Use Pipeline Construction Economic Potential Income to Delaware 36 37 37 39 39 40 A £ £ £ £ £ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ wwwwwwwwww 40 40 43 44 44 44 44 44 45 7 47 51 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Delaware has been strongly influenced by shipping since it was first settled in the early 1600's. The nature of this influence has changed with the evolution of ships, of markets, and of commodities produced. Early sailing ships were of shallow draft and called at many river towns in Delaware to take on agricultural products. Farther up river, where streams tumbled out of the Piedmont and offered water power, colonial manufacturing began and population centers grew. Traffic also passed by Delaware on its way to the up-river cities, Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Trenton. With passing decades and centuries, ships became larger and ports with shallow water access were abandoned. This trend has continued with the inevitable result that ports served by 40-foot deep channels are now passing into obsolescence in favor of new ports which will permit ships with deeper drafts to enter. In a matter of twenty years, bulk carriers for coal, ore, and petroleum have been increased in size to realize lower shipping costs, and the drafts of such ships have increased from 35 to 40 feet to the present 60 to 90 feet. Petroleum has been important in the Delaware Valley since the middle of the nineteenth century. Refineries in the Philadelphia area started in the days of sailing ships but increased at a quickening pace through the close of World War II. During this period of growth, waste discharges from industrial and domestic sources steadily degraded the quality of water in the estuary. Over a decade ago the construction of the Getty refinery in Delaware heralded the movement of the petroleum industry down the Bay toward deeper water. Soon thereafter, tankers with loaded drafts greater than the channel depth entered service and lightering began in the lower Bay. Once lightered, these ships could proceed up the dredged channel to the refineries with partial loads. The historical pattern has been to move marine terminals to protected coastal sites where deep water and shelter from storms could be found together. Such a site exists in Delaware waters in the lower Bay. In the winter of 1969-70 it became obvious that the Shell Oil Company, the Delaware Bay Transportation Company, Zapata-Norness Incorporated, and other industry groups had specific and immediate plans for major industrial developments farther down Delaware's Bay coastline and along the natural deepwater channel. Governor Peterson acted to declare a moratorium on construction in Delaware's coastal zone and simultaneously appointed a Task Force on Marine and Coastal Affairs to "develop a master plan for coastal and bay areas." This Task Force was chaired by Dr. James Wakelin, Jr. In February 1971, the Task Force made a preliminary report recommending, at that time, against approval of any deepwater port facility, or offshore island, in the lower Delaware Bay. In the late spring of 1971, House Bill 300 was passed by the Delaware Legislature and included a ban on deepwater port facilities and other heavy industry in the coastal zone. Shortly thereafter, and as a logical sequel to House Bill 300, the Delaware Legislature passed House Joint Resolution 18. This resolution requested the Governor to appoint a Delaware Bay Oil Transport Committee. Delaware is not alone in studying the deepwater terminal question. Completed, or on-going, studies of particular importance to the Committee include: 1. A study by Soros Associates for the Maritime Administration of the feasibility of a North Atlantic Deepwater Oil Terminal (NADOT). 2. A study by Robert Nathan Associates for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on deepwater terminals. 3. A preliminary design study by Descon Engineers for the Delaware Bay Transportation Company concerned with a tanker terminal in Delaware Bay at Big Stone Beach. 4. An evaluation of the impacts of deepwater terminal construction and operation at east coast sites by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). 5. A study of deepwater terminal potential by the Office of the Chief of Engineers being performed by the Corps' Philadelphia District Office. The results of the first two studies became available to the Committee late in its working period. The third has been made available by the Delaware Bay Transportation Company in ample time for Committee use. The fourth and fifth studies were incomplete and unavailable at the conclusion of the Committee's work. A sixth study of national scope has been announced by President Nixon: 6. A study of the legal and administrative framework necessary to build and operate a deepwater terminal outside of territorial waters. This is being done by the Council for Economic Development. The Delaware Bay Oil Transport Committee has considered these and other sources of information in developing the following analysis of the situation. Unlike the other studies cited above, the Committee has considered this matter primarily from the Delaware point of view. Chapter 2 PRESENT STATUS OF OIL TRANSPORT IN THE Refineries For economic reasons petroleum companies prefer to locate refineries near market areas so that the distribution of refined products can be accomplished in the most competitive manner. Table 1 shows the distance from the Delaware Bay entrance capes to each refinery, and also the barrels per day throughput of each refinery. The location of refineries in the Delaware Valley is shown in Figure 1. Products from these refineries consist of gasoline (50 percent), fuel oil (30 percent), jet fuel (2 percent), kerosene (1 percent), and other products (17 percent) which are distributed to markets along the Eastern Seaboard.1 1Source: From Table 8, August 1972, Monthly Petroleum Statement, Mineral Industry Surveys, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Mines. 2MB/D = Thousands of Barrels Per Day. |