Officials: Pipeline spilled up to 462,000 gallons of gas in Ingham County farmland
Company originally estimated volume to be 126,000 gallons
10:09 PM, May. 19, 2011
Written by
Louise Knott Ahern
WHITE OAK TWP. - Marathon Pipe Line LLC officials now say as much as 462,000 gallons of gasoline might have leaked last month from a faulty pipeline that runs beneath the rural farm fields here.That makes the leak anywhere from two to four times larger than previously reported.
Marathon originally estimated that 126,000 gallons had leaked into the soil before it was detected April 13.
However,
public health and environmental officials say there still is no indication that the gasoline has contaminated local residential wells.
The
leak was discovered by a farmer who noticed gasoline trickling into a county drainage ditch that separates his property on Mount Pleasant Road
from an adjacent fuel storage facility.
The facility is made up of four massive tanks, one of which is owned by Marathon Pipe Line.
Officials confirmed the much larger leak after a memo explaining it to county officials was obtained by the Lansing
State Journal on Thursday.
"Marathon
has continued a rigorous investigation to understand the cause and volume of the Bauer Drain Release," said the company memo, which officials said was scheduled to be publicly released today. "As a result
of this ongoing investigation and recent deployment of new technology we have revised our initial estimate. We now estimate the released product to be between 7,000 barrels and 11,000 barrels."
Meeting to be held
At 42 gallons per barrel, the makes the new estimates between 294,000 gallons and 462,000 gallons.
However,
the company cannot yet say how long the pipe was leaking before it was discovered or why its own safety mechanisms failed to notice that it was
losing gasoline.
Company officials likely will face those questions again next week.
Marathon
will hold a public meeting at the White Oak Township Hall sometime next
week to discuss the revised estimate, said Kim Sakowski of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which is overseeing the cleanup effort.
A date for the meeting had not yet been selected as of Thursday.
Nearby homeowner Ashley Ray said she and other residents are mostly concerned about the safety of their drinking water."I'm
more concerned now that it will eventually get into my ground water and
contaminate my well and cause my husband and our neighbors to get sick," said Ray, 26, after learning of the larger leak estimates from a State Journal reporter.
Tests ongoing
Environmental
and health officials have been monitoring and testing nearby wells since the leak was discovered. All tests have come back clean.
They
said Thursday that one of the things working in their favor is that the
size of the plume - how far the gasoline spread outward - has not changed despite the larger volume estimates.
"They've
identified where this thing starts and stops and what's in between," said Brad Wurfel, communications director for the Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality.
However,
Ingham County Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann said that a larger spill
could mean a longer cleanup, which could potentially give the leaked gasoline more time to seep toward the water line.
"I
think that has to be carefully watched," Lindemann said. "The longer it
takes them to ... get all the product out of the ground, the larger the
risk of further contamination and migration of this product downward, and that bothers me some."
New system
Marathon
officials said they cannot say how long the cleanup will take. Estimates have ranged from months to years, although those estimates were prior to Thursday.
The
revised leak amounts came from a new data collection system that can better measure the saturation of gasoline in the soil, according to the company's memo.
"While
the volume has increased, we remain confident that the release remains contained," Marathon Pipe Line spokesman Robert Calmus said Thursday. "Our number one concern is doing what's right. We are going to do everything possible to remediate this to the satisfaction of our neighbors and of the government agencies involved."
Written by
Louise Knott Ahern
WHITE OAK TWP. - Marathon Pipe Line LLC officials now say as much as 462,000 gallons of gasoline might have leaked last month from a faulty pipeline that runs beneath the rural farm fields here.
That makes the leak anywhere from two to four times larger than previously reported.
Marathon originally estimated that 126,000 gallons had leaked into the soil before it was detected April 13.
However, public health and environmental officials say there still is no indication that the gasoline has contaminated local residential wells.
The leak was discovered by a farmer who noticed gasoline trickling into a county drainage ditch that separates his property on Mount Pleasant Road from an adjacent fuel storage facility.
The facility is made up of four massive tanks, one of which is owned by Marathon Pipe Line.
Officials confirmed the much larger leak after a memo explaining it to county officials was obtained by the
"Marathon has continued a rigorous investigation to understand the cause and volume of the Bauer Drain Release," said the company memo, which officials said was scheduled to be publicly released today. "As a result of this ongoing investigation and recent deployment of new technology we have revised our initial estimate. We now estimate the released product to be between 7,000 barrels and 11,000 barrels."
Meeting to be held
At 42 gallons per barrel, the makes the new estimates between 294,000 gallons and 462,000 gallons.
However, the company cannot yet say how long the pipe was leaking before it was discovered or why its own safety mechanisms failed to notice that it was losing gasoline.
Company officials likely will face those questions again next week.
Marathon
will hold a public meeting at the White Oak Township Hall sometime next
week to discuss the revised estimate, said Kim Sakowski of the
Nearby homeowner Ashley Ray said she and other residents are mostly concerned about the safety of their drinking water.
"I'm more concerned now that it will eventually get into my ground water and contaminate my well and cause my husband and our neighbors to get sick," said Ray, 26, after learning of the larger leak estimates from a State Journal reporter.
Tests ongoing
Environmental and health officials have been monitoring and testing nearby wells since the leak was discovered. All tests have come back clean.
They said Thursday that one of the things working in their favor is that the size of the plume - how far the gasoline spread outward - has not changed despite the larger volume estimates.
"They've identified where this thing starts and stops and what's in between," said Brad Wurfel, communications director for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
However, Ingham County Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann said that a larger spill could mean a longer cleanup, which could potentially give the leaked gasoline more time to seep toward the water line.
"I think that has to be carefully watched," Lindemann said. "The longer it takes them to ... get all the product out of the ground, the larger the risk of further contamination and migration of this product downward, and that bothers me some."
New system
Marathon officials said they cannot say how long the cleanup will take. Estimates have ranged from months to years, although those estimates were prior to Thursday.
The revised leak amounts came from a new data collection system that can better measure the saturation of gasoline in the soil, according to the company's memo.
"While the volume has increased, we remain confident that the release remains contained," Marathon Pipe Line spokesman Robert Calmus said Thursday. "Our number one concern is doing what's right. We are going to do everything possible to remediate this to the satisfaction of our neighbors and of the government agencies involved."
Offline 
Send Email