(The following story by Tom Morton appeared on the Casper Star-Tribune website on September 28.)
CASPER, Wyo. — A proposed 8,000-foot rail spur east of the Natrona County International Airport could reap huge business for central Wyoming, a developer told Natrona County commissioners Thursday.
“Six thousand railcars of commodities could come into Casper a year,” Rich Fairservis told the commissioners at a work session.
If Fairservis’ company — part of the McMurry companies — clears several more hurdles, those railcars would offload pipe, petroleum products, wind farm and other equipment for regional distribution through a transloading area for truck transport, he said.
The spur, which would parallel the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks near Bishop, would be the longest between Denver and Laurel, Mont., 550 miles to the north, Fairservis said.
But Fairservis and fellow Granite Peak developer Dan Guerttman told the commissioners the Bishop Industrial Rail Park needs more work to become reality.
The commissioners already have supported a Business Ready Community grant proposal now before the Wyoming Business Council, which must approve it and then send it to the State Loan and Investment Board — composed of the governor and the other four statewide elected officials — for final approval, Guerttman said.
“Until that happens this is pretty theoretical,” he said.
In the meantime, he needs to clear up title and easement issues on the properties including pipelines and a major MCI fiber optic trunk line that starts in Denver and serves the northwestern part of the nation.
The development company will improve 6 Mile Road to accommodate the trucks that would haul the goods brought by the trains, Guerttman said. “Once that is built, we deed it to you.”
The company also hopes a business would offer to set up shop in the industrial rail park, which could lead to a “business committed” grant from the state if that firm would guarantee a certain number of employees, he said.
Like the Business Ready Community grant, an industrial rail grant and a “business committed” grant need approval from the county commission, commissioner Barb Peryam said.
Commission Chairman Jon Campbell wants to establish a “fee per car” schedule to generate revenue that would be earmarked for road maintenance, he said.
Commissioner Rob Hendry asked if the Federal Aviation Administration had any issues with the industrial rail park, because some of the nearby county land supports landing lights for the airport.
The airport’s board told Fairservis and Guerttman that would not be a problem, they said.
The 8,000-foot spur would avoid another problem caused when a spur to the Cole Creek Industrial Park east of Evansville could not fully accommodate long trains carrying pipe for Anadarko and sometimes blocked the only access road to the Brookhurst subdivision in the past couple of months, Guerttman said.
There are no other developments or residences immediately east of the airport and the Bishop Industrial Rail Park, he said after talking to the commissioners.
“It is in the middle of nowhere,” Guerttman said.