Council throws support behind $220 million pipeline

The St. Charles Parish Council showed support for a $220 million pipeline that will deliver gas and diesel from Valero St. Charles Refinery in Norco to a Kinder Morgan terminal in Collins, Miss.

Only about 12 miles of the 141-mile pipeline will travel through St. Charles, according to Allen Fore, a spokesman for Kinder Morgan. Construction of the project is scheduled to start this summer and be complete in September 2013.

Once the project is complete, parish taxing bodies would receive $445,000 a year, according to Fore.

The pipeline will follow Airline Highway to Cedar Drive and then detour to the Spillway Levee until it reaches Lake Pontchartrain. Kinder Morgan officials said that the project will not cause lane closures on the highway, but could impact the shoulder lanes.

Wetland Watchers Park will not be disturbed by the project.

In other action, the council approved a study of Ormond Field in Destrehan in order to re-design the ball field layout and incorporate central concession/restrooms, fencing and lighting. The plan also calls for new asphalt parking along the railroad track side of the park and concrete-paved sidewalks, dugouts and benches.