July 10, 2013 [Nola] - Blackwater Midstream LLC, which owns and operates a liquid chemical storage terminal in Westwego, is adding two more tanks to the 46 it already has at its industrial site along the Mississippi River.
The Westwego City Council on Monday night approved the company’s plans to add 4 million gallons of storage capacity for unspecified, non-flammable chemicals.
Blackwater, which has had a hot-and-cold political relationship with Westwego officials, ultimately wants to add at least six tanks, a plan that the company has discussed publicly several times in recent months.
The company provides the chemicals to manufacturers, including those along the Mississippi River corridor. Blackwater executives asked the council last month to approve six tanks, but the council shot down the request in a 3-2 vote.
Frank Marrocco, Blackwater’s chief commercial officer, returned Monday with the revised plan, asking for two tanks now and deferring action on four. Blackwater has about six acres available for development at the 26-acre site.
“Two of the six are more pressing for us on a business need,” Marrocco said, describing the chemicals to be stored as “nothing flammable, nothing combustible.”
The only chemical discussed Monday was sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda. Marrocco said Blackwater already handles it at the site. The council found the two-tank proposal more palatable and approved it in a 4-1 vote.
Councilman Glenn Green, whose district includes the Blackwater terminal, led the move to approve the plan. “I’ve really made Blackwater crazy,” Green said in motioning to approve the company’s request. “They’ve met every standard I’ve set. For those two tanks, for the materials they say they’re going to store, I so move.”
