Travis Opens Fuel Site
5/4/2012 – TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Col. Dwight Sones, 60th Air Mobility Wing commander, was joined by Army Col. Bill Keyes, Defense Logistics Agency Energy Americas commander, and Jim Kehlet, Kinder-Morgan Business Development West vice president, to cut the ribbon on the new Kinder-Morgan fuel tank site Tuesday on Travis.
The $50 million project allows Jet Propellant 8 to be stored directly on base.
The JP-8 will now be piped in and stored in three tanks located on base, cutting the delivery time to the flightline considerably. The tanks allow for more than 30 million gallons of JP-8 to be stored on Travis.
“We used to get fuel directly from Concord to the bulk storage tanks,” said Master Sgt. Scott Smith, 60th Logistics Readiness Squadron NCO in charge of fuels distribution. “There were two tanks in Concord designated for Travis, and it used to take between nine and 12 hours for the fuel to get here. Now we have three tanks on base and it only takes 20 minutes to get it to the flightline.”
The Kinder-Morgan tanks will hold JP-8 before it is pumped into the 60th LRS bulk storage facility. From there, it will go to the hydrant facilities on the flightline were it can fill fuel trucks and aircraft, Smith said.
The new site also cuts manpower and time, as it is completely automated from Concord, and the availability of the JP-8 on base also allows fuel to be sampled and tested quicker, Smith said.
However, Smith added, the significant impact of the new pipeline is that the faster receive time lessens the environmental impact by 96 percent because the pipeline footprint was reduced, and it also improves the resupply time for JP-8 on Travis by more than 140 percent.
Sones said the new tanks and shorter pipeline are important for the future of Travis.
“We are continually looking for ways to be good stewards of resources and energy while effectively accomplishing our mission,” he said. “This fuel partnership and DLA’s efforts not only improve the base’s mission readiness but it also reduces our environmental impact.”
Sones said this is just one more way to ensure Travis remains prepared to respond to unexpected events and contingency situations whenever and wherever they may occur.
Follow future editions of the Tailwind for an upcoming series titled “JP-8: The Lifeblood of Travis.” The new series will follow the path JP-8 takes on Travis as it provides life to all aspects of the mission and forms an intricate web of productivity. Many career fields that rely on fuel will be highlighted throughout the course of the series.
