Utah pipeline break fouls geese, ducks

Chevron vows to pay for Salt Lake City creek, pond cleanup

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37664548/ns/us_news-environment/
from WinCustomize Forums

SALT LAKE CITY - A leaked pipeline sent oil spilling into a Salt Lake City creek, coating geese and ducks and closing a park, officials said Saturday as they started a cleanup effort expected to last weeks.

At least 400 to 500 barrels of oil spewed into Red Butte Creek before crews capped the leak site. Nearly 50 gallons of crude oil per minute initially had spilled into the creek, according to Scott Freitag, a Salt Lake City Fire Department spokesman.

"Our real concern is keeping people safe, and keeping the oil from reaching the Great Salt Lake," he told the Deseret News.

Chevron determined the pipeline broke at 10 p.m. Friday, and police and fire crews were notified of it shortly before 7 am. Saturday.

Damage assessment under way
Officials were unsure of the cause of the leak, near the University of Utah campus, or the extent of the spill's environmental impact. Mayor Ralph Becker said drinking water for residents was not affected.

"Our fire teams have capped the site and will work to determine the damage and the best course of action," the mayor said in a statement.

The state Division of Water Quality was onsite assessing damage and will issue a violation notice against Chevron, Gov. Gary Herbert said in a release. The governor said he was monitoring the spill, which he called "devastating."

Chevron says it will pay
Chevron spokesman Mark Sullivan said some residual oil was still leaking and the cleanup likely will take "weeks."

"We're taking full responsibility for any financial damage, environmental damage, safety concerns, impacts on health and cleanup," Sullivan told the Salt Lake Tribune.

Crews were using absorbent booms and creating dams to contain the spill, but officials said some oil had flowed as far as four miles to the Jordan River, and into a pond in the city's Liberty Park, near where residents reported dead fish.

Saving the birds
A crew was trying to collect and take birds to Hogle Zoo cleaning stations and other facilities, said Brad Park, zoo spokesman.

About 150 birds have been identified for rehabilitation, said Jane Larson, Hogle's animal care supervisor. About 75 percent are Canada geese.

"A lot of them are just coated from about the water line, but there are a number of birds that started preening and have oil completely covering their bodies," said Tom Aldridge, migratory bird coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Services

Several ducks also were affected.

The underground pipeline flows to Salt Lake City from Colorado and feeds the city's oil and gas refineries.

Employees at the Veteran Affairs Hospital first noticed oil in the stream just before 7 a.m. Officials then traced the spill to the pipe near Red Butte Garden. Freitag said the pipeline was shut off about 7:45 a.m.


2,227 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Fire the CEO !  Shut down all drilling in the USA!  Close all the gas stations!  Double the taxes on all the oil companies!  That will show 'em!

 

Seriously though, it does seem that when it rains it pours, no?

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Recent events would suggest standards in the oil industry are dropping.

Salt Lake isn't going to take too kindly to oil. Let's hope it doesn't reach that far.

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Seriously though, it does seem that when it rains it pours, no?
End of quote

And when it flows we don't know where the money goes. ;)

Yes, perhaps the standards are  dropping....Maybe there's a larger need for infrastructure maintenance than we're currently doing.

Be a good idea to get people working (short and long range)...roads, railways, airports, bridges, pipelines, sewers, water mains....everything that makes a place livable.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Personally, I would really love to see us get away from this forced dependency on oil and start utilizing alternative sources of power and modes of transportation. We have an inexhaustible fuel source that we just ignore and keep using things that are just plain bad. And doing so would create jobs all over the world for a long time to come. Sure...you won't be able to drive like a bat out of hell...but you'll get to where you need to and it will be better for everyone. But people really need to ignore government and start taking back control. They do not have our best interests in mind...they have their own and view us as just another source for their greed. This really needs to stop and we really need to impose term limits or at least the power to remove those from office that are not doing what's in the best interest...not only for this country...but the rest of the world as well.

I mean really...what is it going to take to wake people up...please tell me and I'll make it happen already so we can finally move forward. I never in my life thought I would grow up in such a dysfunctional world as we have now.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Agree with everything you've written except:

...you won't be able to drive like a bat out of hell....
End of quote

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Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I am not sure that the world is any more dysfunctional than it has always been.  Technology has just made it possible for you to know about it 24/7 and within seconds of the actual event, live and with video.  

 

Here are the largest oil spills for those that are interested in comparisons:

  1. Kuwait - 1991 - 520 million gallons 
    Iraqi forces opened the valves of several oil tankers in order to slow the invasion of American troops. The oil slick was four inches thick and covered 4000 square miles of ocean.
  2. Mexico - 1980 - 100 million gallons 
    An accident in an oil well caused an explosion which then caused the well to collapse. The well remained open, spilling 30,000 gallons a day into the ocean for a full year.
  3. Trinidad and Tobago - 1979 - 90 million
     During a tropical storm off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, a Greek oil tanker collided with another ship, and lost nearly its entire cargo.
  4. Russia - 1994 - 84 million gallons
    A broken pipeline in Russia leaked for eight months before it was noticed and repaired.
  5. Persian Gulf - 1983 - 80 million gallons
    A tanker collided with a drilling platform which, eventually, collapsed into the sea. The well continued to spill oil into the ocean for seven months before it was repaired.
  6. South Africa - 1983 - 79 million gallons
    A tanker cought fire and was abandoned before sinking 25 miles off the coast of Saldanha Bay.
  7. France - 1978 - 69 million gallons
    A tanker's rudder was broken in a severe storm, despite several ships responding to its distress call, the ship ran aground and broke in two. It's entire payload was dumped into the English Channel.
  8. Angola - 1991 - more than 51 million gallons
    The tanker expolded, exact quantity of spill unknown
  9. Italy - 1991 - 45 million gallons
    The tanker exploded and sank off the coast of Italy and continued leaking it's oil into the ocean for 12 years.
  10. Odyssey Oil Spill - 1988 - 40 million gallons 
    700 nautical miles off the cost of Nova Scotia.

The largest US spill was the Lakeview Gusher in 1909-1910 (it lasted for 18 months!

The initial daily flow from the gusher was 18,800 barrels (2,990 m3), peaking at approximately 90,000 barrels (14,000 m3), creating a downhill running river of crude oil from the well site, while crews rushed to contain it with a system of improvised sand bag dams and dikes. During its 18-month duration, the gusher never caught fire.[4]