On 1/26/2005 at approximately 0100 hrs., a 22-inch pipeline owned by Mid-Valley Pipeline (MVPL) ruptured and released an estimated 1500 barrels (over 60,000 gallons) of crude oil into the Kentucky River (NRC# 748277). The location of the break is along the north bank of the river at a point about 16 miles upstream of the confluence with the Ohio River. Art Smith of the EPA Region 4 Louisville, KY Outpost Office is the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) for this incident.
On 02/02/05, MVPL updated the volume of oil discharged as approximately 1,960 barrels or over 83,000 gallons. Of this amount, 48,937 gallons recovered has been recovered to date.
Current status of federal resources deployed to the incident are as follows:
EPA Region 4 - 2 OSCs, 1 Ass't. Information Officer
EPA Region 5 - 2 OSCs
EPA ERT - 2
EPA contractors (START) - 5
USCG GST - 6
NOAA - 1
U.S. Fish & Wildlife - 1
For the last reporting period, the Kentucky River has been falling, however rain and snow are predicted for tonight and the river stage is expected to rise 1 ft/day for the next two days. The Ohio River has also been falling, but will rise 1 ft/day for the next two days.
Overflights conducted today by the Environmental Unit along the Ohio River reported pockets of oil along the banks. The overflight covered an 80 mile stretch of the river from Carrollton, Ky to West Point, KY. The following was observed along the Ohio River:
-Approximately 20 miles of shoreline on the Kentucky side downstream of Carrollton have intermittent oiling. The remaining shoreline areas downstream of the Louisville Gas & Electric plant in Trimble Co., KY are clear, or only slightly impacted with oil.
-An oil sheen was observed during the entire flight. The worst sheen is currently along a stretch of the Ohio from approximately 25 miles upstream of Louisville, KY through the downtown waterfront area of Louisville (see picture for this polrep). Current information correlates this plume with the volume of oil product discharged from the Kentucky River product corresponds to the 8-12 hours on 1/30/05 that containment was compromised.
Additional details on the observed impacts to the Ohio River are posted in the Documents section of the EPA website for this incident (www.epaosc.net/midvalleypipeline).
Almost of the floating oil has been removed from the Kentucky River. A small amount of oil still needs to be collected in some tributaries to the Kentucky River, at the Lock #1, and at Point Park.
MVPL has 4 boats and 2-400 ft. deflection booms deployed on the Ohio River. They have an additional 2400 ft. of boom ready to be deployed if needed. Transportation of recovered oil product to tank farm in Hebron, KY has begun, and decontamination of oil-soaked response equipment at Division B remains underway.
Shoreline cleanup and removal of minor oil pockets remaining on the 16 mile impacted stretch of the Kentucky River to begin.
Removal of minor areas of oil accumulation on Ohio River to begin.
Continue to monitor cleanup activities, Ohio River sampling activities, and assess the shoreline impact.
The Environmental Unit will chair a meeting to be held at the Incident Command Post (ICP) on 2/3/05 to discuss water quality sampling for resources impacted by the incident, and the tracking of the contaminant plume as it moves downstream in the Ohio River.
On 02/02/05, a limited activation of the Region 4 RRT was convened by teleconference. Particiapnts included EPA Regions 4 and 5, the states of Kentucky and Indiana, ORSANCO and response agencies in Louisville, KY to address the impact of the oil on the Ohio River. Louisville Water Company has indicated that they can continue to treat raw water at their intakes, and do not foresee the need for using an alternate water supply.
A press conference and public availability session was held on 02/02/05 in Carrollton, KY. Less than a dozen local residents and public officials attended this meeting, and received information on the response from the members of the Unified Command for this incident (EPA Region 4, KYDEP, and MVPL).
The response is transitioning into a long-term recovery phase. As such, EPA plans to demobilize all but 1 OSC, 2 USCG GST, and 2 START personnel by 1800 hrs. on 02/04/05. A 72-hr. operational period will be established beginning 02/05/04. The EPA OSC anticipates that the oil removal action will be considered complete at some point during the week of Feb. 7. At that time, KYDEP will assume the lead agency role for directing the RP as to any further response actions that may be warranted.
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