By Anthony Brino
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — A new propane distribution facility is opening in the Skyway Industrial Park, replacing a similar structure in Caribou that’s no longer being serviced by the railroad and state government.
Staff photo/Anthony Brino
Dead River Company’s new inter-modal fuel depot in Presque Isle is set to start operations by the end of January 2017. The facility will be able to store up to 135,000 gallons of product on the Skyway Industrial park site.
Dead River Company is expecting to complete construction of the new propane depot by the end of this month, according to Levi Ross, the company’s manager of supply and logistics.
The facility will store about 135,000 gallons of propane, taking the fuel by rail at the industrial park and filling up trucks that will distribute the product throughout Aroostook County, Ross said.
The company has a similar facility in Caribou, but its access via rail is being discontinued because of low rail volume.
“The state of Maine and the Northern Maine Railroad discontinued service on the Limestone subdivision [rail line] and will no longer deliver rail cars to that facility,” Ross said. “We decided to build another facility on an active rail line, one that they pledge will continue to get service.”
The company signed a 20-year agreement with the Presque Isle Industrial Council to locate the facility, one of five the company has in the state, Ross said.
The Industrial Council was approached by Dead River this summer, and the council offered an active rail line and available land, according to Tom Powers, executive director of the Industrial Council.
“It’s a good centralized location,” Powers said.
