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Sunday, October 05, 2008
Environment - Still more on: Major pipeline break near Indiana border
Updating this ILB entry from August 17th, Len Wells of the Evansville Courier & Press reports in a story that begins:
GOLDEN GATE, Ill. — The amount of crude oil that leaked onto a remote Southern Illinois farm when a crosscountry pipeline ruptured Aug. 10 was significantly more than the amount reported initially by Marathon Oil Co. officials.When a 20-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline that runs from Patoka, Ill., to Cattletsburg, Ky., ruptured, officials with Marathon Oil Co. told news reporters the spill amounted to 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons.
However, memos sent from the scene to Illinois EPA headquarters in Springfield reveal the spill amounted to 5,790 barrels, or 243,180 gallons. The corrected figures were based upon meter readings taken from the Patoka, Ill., tank farm and the next downstream pumping station located at Owensboro, Ky.
The documents released by the state EPA in response to an open records request further reveal that after gate valves were closed upstream from the spill site, approximately 10 miles of pipeline had to be drained before recovery work could be completed. The pipeline rupture created a crater 45 feet wide and 60 feet long. During the initial response to the spill, officials misidentified the spill site as being in Edwards County, near Albion, and alerted the Edwards County Sheriff of the incident. The actual spill site was in Wayne County, northwest of Golden Gate.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 5, 2008 12:36 PM
Posted to Environment