Monday July 6, 2009: At approximately 9 am, a tanker truck was involved in an accident on Route 95N in Newburyport, MA. As a result, the truck released approximately 8 to 9 thousand gallons of gasoline onto the road. The gasoline flowed into the storm drain and an unknown amount entered the Merrimmack River.
7/6/09 At 1730 hrs the ERRS contractor arrived on-scene. By then, the MassDEP's contractor ENPRO, later taken over by the responsible party, Ananco, engaged a subcontractor, Restoration Services who brought additional oil removal equipment sufficient to conduct the work. As a result, OSC Barry released ERRS from the site.
The total amount of gasoline released was 8,600 gallons. An unknown amount entered the Merrimack River via the storm water drainage system. Boom was placed around the storm water outlet to capture the gasoline, and sorbent pads and vac trucks were used to recover it. The sheen on the river has largely dissipated. Strong tidal currents were evident on the river. Exposed shoreline at low tide revealed some shoreline that was impacted with gasoline. Sorbent pads and boom were deployed to capture the oil. To date, no impact to wildlife has been observed. Operations are planned to continue until 12 pm tonight.
Tonight Mass Highway will grind two lanes of the highway that were degraded by the gasoline spill.
Twelve homes were evacuated at the beginning of the response. EPA screened the ambient air around the residences during the day with Area Raes (photionization detectors) for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The highest reading detected was 1.4 ppm but most results were non-detect. They also monitored the indoor air of three homes; no VOCs were detected. The evacuation order was lifted at 5 pm.
VOC levels in the storm water grates were 300 ppm. Tomorrow, the contractor will pump out the catch basins and the collection basin near the river. The contractor will also remove gasoline from the drainage swail and excavate the impacted soil.
OSC Wainberg departed the site at 6 pm. OSC Barry departed the site at 8:30 pm and plans to return tomorrow morning at 7:30 am.
EPA's scope of work for this incident includes:
1) Conduct air monitoring at the incident scene and in the residential areas evacuated; and
2) Provide assistance with oil removal/disposal.
OSC Barry will return to the site tomorrow morning to oversee the cleanup activities conducted by the responsible party. These include: 1) Completing the River and shoreline cleanup; 2) Pumping out the catch basins and collection basin; 3) Excavating the impacted soil.
South bound I-95 has re-opened and two lanes of north bound I-95 have re-opened. Completing the cleanup so that all of I-95 can re-open is still a priority.
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