Common Council OKs Lease Amendment To Ship Ethanol From Port Of Milwaukee

Milwaukee’s Common Council has approved a lease amendment that will likely lead to more ethanol being shipped on the Great Lakes.

The lease is with Wisconsin-based U.S. Oil, a division of parent company U.S. Venture Inc., which wants to build a 1,000-foot-long, $3.5 million pipeline to connect company storage tanks at the Port of Milwaukee to a cargo pier in Lake Michigan.

On their first of two votes on the matter Wednesday, common council members narrowly rejected the plan.

There was concern more rail or truck transport of ethanol to the harbor might be dangerous and that the company might someday ship crude oil on Lake Michigan.

But Alderman Bob Bauman warned his colleagues that the lease gave the city little choice but to approve the amendment.

“All we’re doing is giving them a cause of action to either terminate the lease or sue us for breach of contract, and if that’s what we want to do, fine,” Bauman said.

The council then agreed to reconsider its vote. In a second vote, the measure passed easily.

City officials say they still hope to eventually get U.S. Oil to guarantee it won’t ship crude oil from the Milwaukee harbor.

U.S. Oil Vice President Mike Koel previously told WPR the Appleton-based company has no plans to ship crude oil and that the company has a track record of responsible shipping, citing an identical practice in Green Bay.

Members of Citizens Acting for Rail Safety’s Milwaukee chapter urged the council to reject the lease amendment and silently held up signs during the discussion.

In the past, petroleum products have been shipped in and out of the Milwaukee port, but not recently, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The company has approval from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to house ethanol at the Port of Milwaukee.