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ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – A proposed fuel farm in Volusia County is causing an uproar from Ormond Beach residents. The proposed site off US-1 and Hull Road would store 20 million gallons of fuel.
This fight has been going on for just over a month but now Volusia County officials are joining it.
“The citizens of Ormond Beach all understand the need for fuels and terminals. It’s something we need on a day-to-day basis. It’s the location,” said resident Robin Magleora.
Several neighborhoods, the municipal airport, and Ormond’s sports complex all surround the site.
Magleora has been leading the fight and protests. She calls the location a danger to the people, environment and roads.
“There’s going to be approximately 160 to maybe 180 tankers carrying fuel a day, 24 hours a day onto the Ormond Beach roads,” she said.
The company, Belvedere Terminals, is creating a fuel distribution system through Florida. The site in Ormond Beach sits along the Florida East Coast Railway.
The plans include an above-ground tank farm holding over 20 million gallons of fuel with several loading bays for tanker trucks.
“I would take it all the way up to the governor and appeal to him for his help. This is just not an appropriate location,” said Volusia County Council Chair Jeff Brower.
Brower asked county manager George Recktenwald to try and stop the project. Recktenwald said he had a conversation with the company this week.
“It was a very productive conversation. They did agree to be open to other sites,” he said.
Belvedere’s Chief Operating Officer sending this statement to News 6:
Recktenwald says the project is still in the very early stages. He said the county hasn’t even seen an engineering plan and there’s a difficult application process it would still have to go through.
“It’s not so much about preventing it. There will be requirements that they will have to meet and are they willing to meet those requirements? It often boils down to a financial decision on their part,” he said.
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