Pollution/Situation Report Profile

Paulson Oil Company Spill
Chesterton, IN - EPA Region V
POLREP #1
Initial/Final POLREP

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U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
POLLUTION/SITUATION REPORT
Paulson Oil Company Spill - Removal Polrep
Initial and Final Removal Polrep

EPA Emergency Response

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Region V

Subject:

POLREP #1
Initial/Final POLREP
Paulson Oil Company Spill
Chesterton, IN
Latitude: 41.6138853 Longitude: -87.0715412

To:

FEMA Polrep, FEMA
David Chung, U.S. EPA
Jason El-Zein, U.S. EPA
Mark Horwitz, U.S. EPA
Beverly Kush, U.S. EPA
William Messenger, U.S. EPA
Linda Nachowicz, U.S. EPA
Jeff Kelley, U.S. EPA - CIC
NPFC USCG, USCG
Max Michael, IDEM
Halla Kuss, IDEM
Jim Mitchell, U.S. EPA
Michael Chezik, DOI

From:

Tricia Edwards, OSC

Date:

7/15/2010

Reporting Period:

July 15, 20101

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

Site Number:		Contract Number:
D.O. Number:		Action Memo Date:
Response Authority:	OPA	Response Type:	Emergency
Response Lead:	PRP	Incident Category:
NPL Status:	Non NPL	Operable Unit:
Mobilization Date:	7/15/2010	Start Date:	7/15/2010
Demob Date:	7/15/2010	Completion Date:	7/15/2010
CERCLIS ID:		RCRIS ID:
ERNS No.:		State Notification:
FPN#:		Reimbursable Account #:

1.1.1 Incident Category

1.1.2 Site Description
A fire occurred at Paulson Oil Company, Chesterton, Indiana at 10:00 PM CST on Wednesday July 14th. Numerous oil storage tanks were in the building were the fire occurred. An estimated 800 gallons of lubricating oil is on the ground as a result of the fire. Staff from the Paulson Oil Company believe that the fire heated the individual tank valves and as a result, Teflon regulators inside the valves melted, causing oil to leak from the tanks onto the ground. The NRC was notified of the incident at 10:45 AM CST on June 15, 2010. U.S. EPA responded to the incident to assess the release.

1.1.2.1 Location
Paulson Oil Company is located at 300 N. 15th Street in Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana.

1.1.2.2 Description of Threat
Fire on site resulted in the uncontrolled release of miscellaneous lubricants, oils and biodies.

1.1.3 Preliminary Removal Assessment/Removal Site Inspection Results

2. Current Activities

2.1 Operations Section

2.1.1 Narrative
The operator of the facility estimated 100,000 gallons of miscellaneous lubricants, oils, and biodiesel were stored inside the building at the time of the fire. The facility had the capacity to hold up to 150,000 gallons on site. The operator of the facility was notified of the fire at 10:00 PM CST on June 14. The fire was extinguished at approximately 1:00 AM CST. Once the fire was extinguished and the area deemed safe to work in, Paulson personnel began to assess the site.

There are two structures on site. Only one of the structures was involved in the fire. The property is borderd by a storage facility to the north, Waverly street to the east, N. 15th Street to the west, and a retention pond to the south. The flow of the property is to the north. Two dry wells are located between the building and the fence line to the north. These wells became overwhelmed from run-off from firefighting activities. The run off from the fire went off site onto the storage facility.

Along the north fenceline on the neighboring property, a drainage line covered with rip rap allow normal run off to enter the line and flow to the east towards Waverly, then south along Waverly, and eventually back to retention pond on the south side of the Paulson facility.

2.1.2 Response Actions to Date
Once the area was released by fire personnel, Paulson personnel put absorbent boom along the fenceline of the property to absorb any additional run-off.  Paulson Oil Company contracted SET Environmental to conduct clean up activites.

At the time U.S. EPA was on-site, Paulson personnel were in the process of transferring the oils in the remaining tanks into tankers and tanks on site.  SET had deployed boom in the retention pond, and had excavated on the neighboring property a collection pit.  A vacuum truck was skimming oil from the collection pit.

2.1.3 Enforcement Activities, Identity of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs)

2.1.4 Progress Metrics

Waste Stream Medium Quantity Manifest # Treatment Disposal

2.2 Planning Section

2.2.1 Anticipated Activities

2.2.1.1 Planned Response Activities
SET Environmental stated that they intended to remove the entire drainage line and the rip rap on the neighboring property and construct a dam at the west end. The parking lot of the the facility will require excavation to remove the saturated soils. The retention pond will also be skimmed and boom will continue to be maintained.

Paulson representative stated that the intent was to remove as much of the remaining fluids as possible and then pull the tanks from inside the building. A temporary containment dike will be brought in for the tanks removed from the building. Once the tanks have been removed, the structure will be demolished.

2.2.1.2 Next Steps

2.2.2 Issues

2.3 Logistics Section