The spill area adjacent to the pipeline has been delineated. It was calculated that 1.93 acres of tundra and frozen lake surface may have been impacted. Teams have been working to estimate the volume of the spill by collecting oil thickness data in over 1800 locations.
The spill is contained by natural and man-made snow berms. Certain berms are being reinforced with ice by the addition of water. Snow and frozen conditions allow for working on the tundra and minimize damage from people, equipment, and oil contamination
The source of the spill was determined to be a one quarter inch hole in the pipeline at the 6 o'clock position, internal corrosion is the suspected cause of the hole but further investigation is ongoing.
GC2 remains shutdown, BP has applied freeze protection to approximately 230 wells and associated flow lines effected by the shutdown.
Weather: Mostly cloudy chance of snow highs 10F to -15F with west winds 10-15 mph with wind chill to -52F below.
EPA FOSC, Matt Carr, and 1 START are changing out today with FOSC Jeff Rodin and one START.
The Joint Information Center in Anchorage is disbanding but representatives will confer on an as needed basis.
RESPONSE ACTION: Incident response priorities and objectives are
• Ensure all personnel are safe
• Mitigate potential of further release
• Investigate the cause of the spill
• Continue containment of the spill
• Implement a plan to restart the pipeline
Numerous vacuum trucks are currently on-site recovering oil. Approximately 1,383 bbls (58,086 gallons) of oil/water have been recovered as of 7:00 AM on March 8, 2006.
Currently the primary recovery tactic is to use vacuum trucks to pick up pooled oil. A heavy oil pump is being used on the inlet of each vacuum hose to assist in moving the oil. Removal of contaminated snow has been delayed to allow for completion of the volumetric survey. Some contaminated snow was removed from the northern edge of the spill area to allow site access, with 114 cubic yards of contaminated snow recovered.
All waste is being handled according to the approved waste handling plan. Recovered fluids in the vacuum trucks continue to be transported to Flow Station 2 (FS-2) and offloaded into a 10,000 barrel (bbl) tank. Soils in the caribou crossing area are being tested for contamination and will be handled appropriately. Contaminated snow and ice are being stockpiled at the CC-2A facility. A snow melter will be installed at CC-2A, and melted fluids will be taken to the FS-2 tank.
Spill volume estimation survey work continued. Approximately 800 data points taken March 6; another 1,000 data points taken March 7. This work is approximately 75% percent complete and will continue until complete.
Workers have erected a temporary structure over the exposed pipe in the caribou crossing. This will allow heating so that further testing of the pipeline can be completed.
A 24-hour cleanup operation is in effect. A total of 60 spill responders, 30 for the day shift and 30 for the night shift, are working in the field-cleanup efforts.
Free liquid oil will continue to be recovered using Vac trucks and viscous oil pumping equipment. Removal of snow and segregation of oiled, contaminated snow will occur to expose the oiled tundra and frozen lake surface. Response tactics such as warm water flushing followed by recovery are anticipated to occur in the future.
The environmental branch is beginning to prepare a tundra treatment plan to address long term and final cleanup stages. Wetlands ecologists will be involved.
The need for additional snow removal along and under the pipeline will be evaluated. Additional oil may be found in these areas.
Small "Bobcat" style front-end loaders may be used to remove contaminated snow from the spill area once the volumetric survey is completed.
Movement of cleanup equipment and supplies to the ice pad staging area created on the lake adjacent to the north side of the spill (referred to as Q Pad lake staging area) continues. Activation of this pad is increasing access to more of the spill area and allowing for crews to work more portions of the spill area at the same time.
South side ice pad construction is complete and is now being utilized as a staging area.
Procedures for regular inspection of the ice roads created for the response, to verify road integrity, are being prepared.
Frostbite is a concern and BPXA is swapping crews frequently and is providing warm up shacks for workers. With extreme cold wind chill ongoing site operations have been temporarily suspended for personnel safety reasons.
The volume is unknown at this time. A volume estimation protcol was approved by the Unified Command and is being implemented on the site to estimate the spill size. Estimates may be available tomorrow, Thursday March 9th.
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