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Department of Ecology News Release - Nov. 14, 2000
00-209
SPOKANE - A gasoline spill last July from an underground pipeline that runs between the Tidewater and Chevron terminals near Pasco will cost Tidewater Barge Lines, Inc. $240,000 in penalties.
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has issued the penalty to the company for negligently discharging gasoline into ground water. Tidewater failed to protect its pipe from corrosion, and lacked pipeline inspection and maintenance procedures that would have prevented and/or detected the hole in the pipe.
As a result, between 35,000 gallons and 43,000 gallons of gasoline spilled from one of the underground pipelines, and up to 21,000 gallons of gasoline contaminated the ground water.
"Proper pipeline management would have prevented this spill," said Joe Stohr, who manages Ecology's spills program. "It's the largest petroleum spill into water that we've seen in Eastern Washington."
Another key factor in the size of the penalty is that Tidewater was initially uncertain who owned the pipeline.
"This uncertainty of ownership suggests a lack of corporate awareness of a 50-year-old gasoline pipeline that sorely needed maintenance and oversight," Stohr said. "In the wake of the pipeline explosion in Bellingham, there is no excuse for companies with petroleum pipelines to not be fully up-to-speed on the condition of their facilities and knowledgeable about current safety procedures and requirements."
On July 20, Tidewater personnel noticed a shortage in the number of gallons of gasoline transferred. Around 24 hours after the shortage was noticed, Tidewater pressurized the suspect system five times with gasoline and then saw gasoline on the ground along a delivery pipe. The workers investigated further, discovering the leak and identifying a hole in the top of the delivery pipe as the source of the leak. The line with the visible leak was shut down.
The leak was in one of Tidewater's inbound delivery lines, which runs between Tidewater and the adjacent Chevron facility. Two of Tidewater's pipelines carry refined petroleum products from Chevron to Tidewater. The third line carries refined petroleum from the storage tanks in Pasco through Chevron's pipeline, where it is then piped to customers primarily in Spokane.
Twelve wells were drilled to help determine the extent of the contamination and to enable Tidewater to recover gasoline from the groundwater. Gasoline from the spill was discovered floating on ground water underneath the site in nine of the 12 wells.
"Based on shortages recorded from the pipe's transfers, we have persuasive evidence that gasoline had been leaking for eight weeks and probably for as long as three months," said Stohr. "Petroleum products are highly toxic and damaging to the environment, and we were lucky the gasoline apparently did not migrate to neighboring drinking-water wells or to the river."
Ecology has worked closely with the state's Utilities and Transportation Commission, which is reviewing the case from the standpoint of pipeline safety regulations. Ecology's penalty pertains to the pollution caused by the leak and is influenced by the negligence surrounding the release.
Cleanup and restoration activities are under way at the Tidewater terminal. So far, about 8,000 gallons have been recovered.
Tidewater Barge Lines, Inc. may ask Ecology to reconsider the fine within 15 days or appeal the fine to the state's Pollution Control Hearings Board within 30 days.
Contacts: Joe Stohr, Ecology spills manager, 360-407-7450Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
