Thursday, February 8, 2007:
FOSC Daniel Heister was contacted by PDO Matthew Carr that ODEQ/SOSC Wes Gebb wanted EPA assistance at a mystery fuel spill that was discharging into Willamina Creek approximately 800 feet up stream from the city of Willamina’s drinking water intake. Heister met Gebb and the property owner Richard Maben at 1200 hours on 02/08/2007. We toured the property and Mr. Maben who said he felt the source of the release was approximately forty-five, 55 gallon drums of diesel water waste that had been generated from diesel truck/tractor maintenance at the family’s now defunct trucking business. He said he moved the drums there approximately three years earlier.
We explained to Mr. Maben that either he or the government needed to take quick action to mitigate the release. Mr. Maben explained that he was presently attending his elderly mother who was extremely sick and asked that the response be conducted by the government. Heister explained to Mr. Maben that this option would probably be more expensive than hiring his own contractor and simply paying for the government oversight cost. Mr. Maben said he understood and still wanted the government to take the lead. FOSC Heister and SOSC Gebb discussed who would take the lead on the property and they agreed EPA would conduct the response.
At 1330 hours, START was notified by OSC Dan Heister of the incident approximately 1.5 miles northwest of the City of Willamina in Yamhill County, Oregon. The incident involved diesel fuel impacting a ditch adjacent to a property where Mr. Richard Maben stored waste from a now defunct diesel truck repair business in Willamina. Thirty full to partially full 55-gallon drums were identified, containing fluids drained from diesel truck engines. These drums were stored adjacent to a slough on the eastern boundary of the Maben property. The sloughs flows into a ditch that flow east along Oak Lane. The ditch continues eastward past Tenbush Lane and flows into Willamina Creek approximately 2000 feet east of the Maben property. The City of Willamina drinking water supply intake is located in Willamina Creek approximately 800 feet downstream (south) of the mouth of the ditch. Sheen was observed in the slough and in the ditch from the Maben property downstream to Willamina Creek. As a result The City of Willamina water intake pumps were turned off.
Early reports from the responding West Valley Fire District and the Oregon DEQ indicated that the source of the release impacting the ditch appeared to be the Maben drums. This was based on Mr. Maben saying that he suspected the drums were the source. Oil sorbant pads and sorbant boom were placed at several locations along the ditch between the source area and Willamina Creek to capture the fuel, and protect the City water intake.
At approximately 1745, START team member (STM) Jim Petersen met with OSC Dan Heister, and response contractor Mr. Joe Ficek of Environmental Quality Management, Inc. (EQM). Sheen and diesel odor were observed in the ditch. The EQM response team is scheduled to begin control measures the following day at first light. The following action items were prioritized to minimize impact to the City of Willamina water supply, and to contain and collect the spilled diesel fuel:
• Deploy and maintain sorbant pads and sorbant boom along the length of the ditch from the Maben property to the mouth of Willamina Creek.
• Deploy curtain boom in Willamina Creek to deflect sheen and/or floating product away from the water supply intake.
• Mobilize a vacuum truck to the site and remove the contents of the 30 55-gallon drums.
• After emergency utility locates have been completed and Yamhill County traffic control flaggers are mobilized, construct one or more underflow dams to trap and collect floating fuel.
• Use sorbant pads to mop up pockets of floating sheen and emulsified fuel along the ditch.
Friday February 9, 2007:
STM Petersen collected samples from six of the thirty drums (20%) on the Maben property for HazCat testing. The drum contents were reported to be liquids removed from diesel engines (water, antifreeze, oil, and fuel), except three drums which were reported to contain recycled latex paint. Ten-step HazCat analyses of the samples from the drums did not indicate the presence of chemicals other than those reported to be in the drums.
EQM used a vacuum truck to remove the liquid from the drums. Twenty-seven of the drums were emptied. The remaining three drums containing thickened latex paint, and were separately placed in overpack drums and were removed from the site for disposal under hazardous waste manifest (manifest tracking number 000329645JJK). Soil staining was observed in and around the drums but when the mini excavator scraped the area the staining was determined to be superficial.
START collected a water sample (sample ID 07022001) from the ditch along Oak Lane. The sample was collected 25 feet downstream of the confluence of the slough and the ditch at the edge of the Maven property.
EQM placed a deflection boom in Willamina Creek at the City water intake facility. The boom was placed such that floating product in the creek would be deflected to the opposite side of the creek as the intake. At approximately 1300 hours the City pumps were turned on to recharge the City’s depleted reservoirs.
EQM maintained the sorbant pads and boom in the ditch, replacing saturated sorbants with fresh sorbants. Hand tools, a back hoe, and a mini tracked excavator were used to remove the cattails and grass from the ditch, which was holding diesel fuel and preventing the fuel from freely flowing down the ditch, and inhibiting the use of sorbant pads to collect the product. A section of the ditch from the Maben property to approximately 400 feet to the east was cleared. The removed vegetation was placed in a lined drop box.
Rather than an underflow dam, EQM elected to place a wooden timber in the ditch channel to create an underflow weir. Sorbant pads and boom were placed upstream and downstream of the weir.
At approximately 1500 hours, a buried drain pipe was discovered entering the ditch upstream of the point were the slough converges with ditch. The drain pipe was emptying water with visible red-diesel sheen/free product into the ditch. Because the drain was approximately 15 feet upstream of the slough, it was evident that there was a different source area than the drum storage location originally suspected as the source area. The buried drain pipe led to a drain sump on the Maben property. A drainage ditch north of the drain sump entered a buried pipe, leading to the drain sump. Two above-ground fuel storage tanks, a red 1,000-gallon tank and a silver 575-gallon tank, were located approximately 100 feet west of the drainage ditch. Stained soil with diesel odor was observed under the ASTs. It appeared that surface flow at the AST location would be generally to the east (toward the drainage ditch). A small pile of kitty litter oil absorbent material was located under the ASTs. At this point of the response OSC Heister opened the OPA fund and proceeded to handle the situation as a diesel release.
Work items for Feb. 12 will include flushing residual fuel from the drain pipes. With the expected rains and concern of heavier sheen/product release, OSC Heister requested the City of Willamina that they not operate the water supply intake pumps until the following day. The water supply pumps were turned off from approximately 22:00 2/10/07, and restarted at 09:00 on 2/11/07.
Saturday, February 11, 2007:
EQM checked and replaced sorbant pads and sorbant boom in the Oak Lane ditch throughout the day. EQM used water from a West Valley Fire District truck to flush out the short section of buried pipe between the drainage ditch and the drain sump. Sheen and product were flushed from the pipe. A second timber underflow weir was placed in the ditch just downstream of the slough confluence.
STM Petersen collected a water sample from the Oak Lane ditch at the point were the drain pipe flows into the ditch (sample ID 07022002), and a water sample from the drain sump (sample ID 07022003).
Brush, reeds, and shallow soils were removed from the drainage ditch east of the AST’s. A pocket of darkly stained soil was found on the west side of the drainage ditch; the stained soil did not have a fresh diesel odor, but appeared very dark and weathered. A soil sample (sample ID 07022004) was collected from this location.
After a vacuum truck arrived at the site, EQM used a West Valley Fire District water tender to flush out the longer section of drain pipe. While water was flushed though the pipe, EQM personnel used sorbant pads and the vacuum truck to capture product, sheen, and emulsified product. The pipe was flushed until very little product was observed.
The vacuum truck was used to remove small pockets of sheen and emulsified product from the Oak Lane ditch, however, because of the material was so dispersed, the effect was superficial. EQM used the backhoe, excavator, and loader to remove reeds from the Oak Lane ditch from where they’d left off on Feb. 9 up to Tenbush Lane. Sorbant pads were replaced as necessary in the ditch and at the mouth of the ditch in Willamina Creek.
Sunday, February 11, 2007:
EQM replaced sorbants, and used the backhoe, excavator, and loader to remove additional reeds from the Oak Lane ditch. Fuel product samples were taken from the silver 575-gallon tank and from the hose of the silver 575-gallon tank. The silver tank was for the most part empty and needed to be leveraged to obtain a full 8 ounce sample. The samples from both the hose and the tank were red diesel. The red 1,000-gallon tank and hose were empty. The 575 gallon tank sample will be “fingerprinted” and at this point appears to be the leading suspect for the source of the spill. When the site was toured on 02/08/2007 Mr. Maben said that the tanks were moved to the property over 15 years earlier and had always been empty from that time on. FOSC Heister and SOSC Gebb tapped the AST’s during the tour and found them to be empty and turned their focus to the drums on the other side of the property.
The AST’s and their stands were moved to allow for soil excavation. A 6-inch deep layer of soil was excavated from the location of the AST’s eastward to the drainage ditch to remove the most heavily contaminated soil. A 4-feet by 3-feet by 2-feet deep volume of soil was removed in the most heavily stained area, the location were the kitty litter had been observed. The pit was backfilled using import gravel that was located on the property. A sample (sample ID 07022005) was collected at the area of the excavation that appeared the most heavily impacted. EQM placed plastic sheeting over the excavated area and secured it with tires found on the property.
EQM began demobilizing from the site at approximately 1500 hours. Two worker will remain on site through Monday, February 12, 2007 to maintain sorbant booms and pads.
Monday, February 12, 2007
OSC Heister returned to the site at 1000 hours to inspect conditions at the site. The deflection boom at the drinking water intake was inspected and was functioning properly. The ditch along Oak Lane still had a very light sheen that was being captured by the sorbant booms. No sheen was reaching Willamina Creek. Heister directed the two man crew to change out boom and sorbants in the ditch. The two man crew left at 1300 hours and are schedule to return 02/16/2007 to remove remaining boom and do a final site walk.
NA
No further removal Action Required
None
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