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 and Ohio River have been falling, and the weather forecast has no rain predicted until Monday. Floating debris is still a problem at the boom location on the Kentucky River.
Over flights conducted today by the Environmental Unit along the Ohio
River reported a few pockets of oil along the banks. A light sheen was observed on the river the entire over fight. The over flight covered an 80 mile stretch of the river from Carrollton, KK downstream of Louisville, KY.
For the Kentucky River, the overflights observed only pockets of oil, and a sheen on parts of the river. A substantial amount of floating debris was observed during the overflights.
MVPL continues to capture and recover oil on both the Kentucky and Ohio Rivers. The amount of oil being recovered on the Kentucky has dropped as the amount of oil being collected behind the booms has reduced. Recovery activities on the Ohio River consists of removing pocketed oil, maintaining deflection boom, and staging equipment downstream for future use. Cleanup crews have been deployed to affected shoreline sections near the Nugent Sand & Gravel facility in Milton, KY, and along the Louisville waterfront in an attempt to recover what remains of the oil product.
As the response is transitioning into a long-term recovery phase, 72-hr. operational period has been established effective as of 02/05/04. During this period,the following activities are planned:
Complete removal of minor oil pockets remaining on the 16 mile impacted stretch of the Kentucky River begin shoreline cleanup.
Continue removal of minor areas of oil accumulation along the Ohio River.
Establish additional facilities for decon of equipment prior to demobilization.
Continue to monitor cleanup activities, Ohio River sampling activities, and assess the shoreline impact.
The Environmental Unit is preparing a shoreline cleanup plan for affected areas of the Ohio River between Carrollton and Louisville. Cleanup of these shorelines is expected to commence as soon as possible, pending approval of the plan by Unified Command.
EPA has demobilized all but 1 OSC, 2 USCG GST, and 2 START personnel from the incident. 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 wrranted.
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