At 2023 hrs, March 8, 2012, the Phone Duty Officer received a NRC report regarding a 1500 gallons of waste oil released from a tanker truck to the ground of the J & S Oil Company located at 867 Western Avenue in Manchester, ME. The release was caused by a faulty valve on one of the multi-compartments tanker truck. The runoff of the waste oil migrated from the facility to the abutting property and wetlands. MEDEP is on scene. Clean Harbor, contractor for the RP, is currently removing oil from the ground utilizing a Vac. truck. Hard and absorbent boom are also deployed to contain the oil. It is unclear whether the nearby Bog Brook and Tanning Brook are affected by the oil. MEDEP and Clean Harbor are planning to demobilize as soon as the bulk of the oil on the ground is removed and will return to the scene in the morning to resume the cleanup. OSC Elise Jakabhazy will mobilize to the scene in the morning of March 9, 2012 to provide technical assistance to the MEDEP.
On March 9, 2012, OSC Jakabhazy arrived at the scene at 0845 hrs and integrated into the unified command. At 1038 hrs, OSC Jakabhazy reported the following:
- Both MEDEP and Clean Harbor are on scene.
- This site is within 100 meters of Bog Brook, which flows via Rockwood Brook and Bond Brook to the Kennebec River. Bog Brook also flows through several unnamed freshwater forested/shrub wetlands, of which the closest to the site is approximately 117 meters away.
- The tanker truck parked beside a swampy area. Because of the warm weather yesterday, water from the snow melt mixed with the released oil and spread over a 2-acre area. The spill impacted a nearby marine (boat) shop, a drainage ditch underneath Puddleduck Road, and an unnamed tributary of Bog Brook.
- The exact cause of the release is currently unknown. However, it appears that someone purposely opened the valve on one of the tanker truck's compartments as an act of vandalism or theft.
- Hard and absorbent boom have been installed to contain the oil.
- A total of 3 Vectors (vac. trucks), an excavator and a crew of 20 are on scene to install an intercepting trench and excavate the oil-contaminated soil.
- J&S Oil Company is subject to Spill, Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule and does have an SPCC plan.
- OSC Jakabhazy issued an Notification of Federal Interest to J&S Oil Company at 1300 hrs.
- It is anticipated that OSC Jakabhazy will remain on scene as the cleanup will continue the rest of today and tomorrow.
