PDV America, Inc. and Subsidiaries - Page 36

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          storage tanks had not been moved for at least 24 years.  We                 
          applied Whiteco and held that the storage tanks were inherently             
          permanent structures.  With respect to the sixth Whiteco factor,            
          we concluded that the storage tanks’ sheer weight and girth                 
          affixed them to the piers, and we analyzed the storage tanks and            
          the piers as “integrated units”.  In a footnote, we explained our           
          decision to treat the storage tanks and piers as one unit as                
          follows:  (1) There was never an intention to move the storage              
          tanks; (2) the storage tanks had never been moved; and (3) moving           
          the storage tanks could be done only with great expense and                 
          difficulty.  Siler v. Commissioner, supra.                                  
               Although Siler also involved petroleum product storage                 
          tanks, the facts of Siler are distinguishable from those of the             
          present case.  CITGO’s tanks are vertical, whereas the storage              
          tanks in Siler were cradled horizontally.  Most importantly, the            
          reasons we gave in Siler for treating the storage tanks and piers           
          as one unit are not applicable to the present case:  CITGO cannot           
          realistically expect the tanks to remain permanently in place;              
          CITGO has moved tanks in the past; and CITGO can move tanks                 
          without relatively great expense or difficulty when the cost of             
          relocating tanks is compared to the cost of constructing new                
          tanks.  See supra pp. 8-9, 15-16.                                           
               We agree that CITGO’s tanks have substantial weight, but the           
          tanks are not affixed to their foundations in any manner that               






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