Oil company sues over county's authority to refuse building permit
Lawyers for McHenry County will appear at a federal courthouse in Rockford this week in hopes of staving off a Canadian company's effort to build a crude oil pumping station in rural Seneca Township.
Calgary-based Enbridge Energy Co. is suing the county in U.S. District Court to overturn a September county board decision refusing the company a permit for the proposed pumping station on a 21-acre site west of Woodstock.
The company, which already operates a pipeline through the county, claims board members overstepped their legal authority by denying the permit because of safety concerns. Safety issues for pipelines and pumping stations, the company argues in its lawsuit, are the purview of the federal government, not local bodies like McHenry County.
On Thursday Enbridge is scheduled to ask a federal judge for an injunction against the county that it would prevent it from taking any actions that would halt or otherwise interfere with its construction of the proposed pumping station. The county is fighting the request.
Enbridge officials say they need the pumping station 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 whole case got a little more complicated last week when Seneca Township resident Amy Peters, one of several opponents of the pumping station, filed a petition for legal standing to participate in the case.
Peters, in her filing, states that because she owns 80 acres near the Enbridge site the court should allow her to become a party in the ongoing legal fight.
Seeing red: McHenry County's top lawyer, chief judge and other officials gathered with about 60 local students and their teachers at a special event last week to mark the start of Red Ribbon Week, a nationwide effort to curb the use of illegal drugs, especially among young people.
State's Attorney Louis Bianchi hosted and emceed the event, which featured students from a half-dozen elementary and middle schools giving presentations on the importance of living drug-free; and how they and their classmates were participating in Red Ribbon Week.
Bianchi joined his staff in handing out dozens of red ribbons to students, calling them an important symbol in the fight against illicit drugs.
"The mission of Red Ribbon Week is to provide a visible and unified stand for the riddance of illegal drugs in America," Bianchi told the students.
Gene Goeglein, the county's regional superintendent of schools, told the students they should be leaders for their entire schools when it comes to spreading an anti-drug message.
"This is a great opportunity for you to continue to show people you're drug-free, you have choices to make and you're making good ones," he said.