U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

HTTPS

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

FACILITY D314 E19802 Oil Spill

Notices

All Notices [5] rss feed
Categories
Notices  Posted Category
Site Description 3/3/2019 Incident Briefing

The Facility D314E19802 Oil Spill is located in Bluff, Utah  directly adjacent to the Navajo Reservation in Southeast Utah.  A transmission line leak was discovered on March 1, 2019 which flowed approximately 3.5 river-miles to the San Juan River, in San Juan County, Utah.  The site of the release was on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and upstream of the Navajo Nation lands.

After discovering the responsible party took immediate actions to address and contain the spill.  EPA mobilized one On-Scene-Coordinator (OSC) and two Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START) contractors to respond at the request of Utah Department of Environmental Quality (UT DEQ) on March 1, 2019.  
Removal Objectives 3/3/2019 Incident Briefing

1. Protect worker health and safety and public health. 
2. Ensure all response actions are consistent with the National Contingency Plan.  
3. Secure the release source from further discharging.  
4. Protect the Water of the United States from impacts of spilled oil.  
5. Recovery and clean-up of spilled oil.  
6. Restoration of land impacted by spilled oil and clean-up operations
Current Actions/Progess as of 3/2/2019 3/3/2019 Incident Briefing

The source of the release has been isolated and secured. 

  • The spill pathway has been restricted to the Bucket Wash.
  • Clean-up operations at the confluence of Bucket Wash and San Juan River has been performed and are currently performing passive recovery by use of absorbent.  
  • Bulk recovery operations have been performed in Divisions 1, 2, 4 and 5, with small pockets of oil or mousse still needing to be addressed.
  • Active recovery at the underflow between Divisions 3 and 4 will be maintained until bulk clean-up operations can be performed in Division 3.  
  • Continue to monitor collection points at the confluence of Bucket Wash and San Juan River. 
  • Continue skimmer recovery operations on the San Juan River at the Sand Island boat launch. 
Site Assessment 3/3/2019 Incident Briefing
When EPA arrived to the site on 3/1/2019, the following actions had already been conducted by the PRP clean-up crew (in no particular order):  

  • Installation of spill source, and stop the release, 
  • Deployed boom, absorbent, disc skimmer to the Sand Island boat launch on the San Juan River, 
  • Deployed absorbent to the confluence of the San Juan River and the Bucket Wash,
  • Performed bulk removal and clean-up throughout Division 5,
  • Installation of underflow dam at Division 4

 
Site Update 10/5/2019 Site Update
The source of the release was shut off and the line was repaired. A total of 872 bbls of produced water and 196 bbls of crude oil were recovered out of Bucket Wash and the San Juan River and returned to the RP's Mud Plant and incorporated into their injection system. All check damns were removed from Bucket Wash and associated contaminated soils were transported to the Contract Environmental Services land farm.