Pipeline company sues county over denial to build pumping station

A Canadian pipeline company is suing McHenry County in federal court, alleging the county board acted illegally earlier this week by blocking its plans to construct an oil pumping station.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, asks a federal judge to grant an injunction barring the county from interfering with Enbridge Energy Co.'s plans to build the station in Seneca Township, west of Woodstock.

Enbridge filed the litigation less than 24 hours after the McHenry County Board voted 13-9 Tuesday night against granting the company a permit to build the pumping station on its 21-acre site near Franklinville and Gee roads.

Officials with the Calgary-based company say the station is necessary to increase capacity along an existing pipeline that delivers Canadian crude oil to refineries south of Chicago.

The plan, however, met outspoken resistance from nearby residents, who feared it would increase chances of a pipeline leak that would contaminate surrounding soil and groundwater supplies.

Enbridge officials called those fears unfounded, saying their plan included the addition of a retention area that could hold more than 60,000 barrels of oil should a leak occur.

The suit claims county officials overstepped their legal bounds by making Enbridge obtain a permit to build the pumping station. Federal regulations, the suit states, prevent counties from taking action on interstate pipelines.

"Despite this express federal preemption, on September 18, 2007 McHenry County invoked its zoning power to prohibit Enbridge, based on safety grounds, from proceeding with construction of the needed pump station," the suit states. "The regulatory action by McHenry County, which was taken under color of state law, is directly contrary to federal law and unreasonably deprives Enbridge of its constitutionally guaranteed right to engage in interstate commerce."

County officials were not immediately available today for comment.