A 53-year-old pipe that supplies motor fuel to the Montvale tank farm is scheduled to cease operation next year, a move that would force the Roanoke region to burn pricier gas trucked in from more distant supply points.
The line, which is doomed by deterioration that the owner deems too costly to repair, supplies a large portion of the region’s gasoline and diesel fuel. Unless the company reverses course, tanker trucks will have to get fuel from depots in other parts of the state — or in other states — to supply gas stations from north and east of Roanoke to Martinsville and Wytheville.
The newer Plantation Pipeline, which also delivers fuel to the Roanoke region via a spur, doesn’t have capacity to make up the difference, officials said.
