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Z0D6 |
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OPA |
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Emergency |
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EPA |
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Incident Category: |
Removal Assessment |
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Non NPL |
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1.1.1 Incident Category
Emergency response to an oil spill.
1.1.2 Site Description
On Friday, 30 December 2011, suspected gasoline “blooms” or “bubbles” were observed near the shoreline of the Clearwater River in rural north central Idaho. The source for the release is not yet known; however, the affected shoreline is adjacent to property formerly used for industrial and maintenance purposes and is nearby the Hunt Oil/Atkinson Cardlock facility.
The land immediately adjacent to the river bank is owned by Clearwater County. The nearby cardlock facility is owned by Atkinson Distributing Inc. Diesel and gasoline are stored on-site and available through the facility.
1.1.2.1 Location
The site is located in Orofino, Clearwater County, Idaho, and the site is also located within the Nez Perce Reservation.
1.1.2.2 Description of Threat
It is unknown when the release first started to occur. The blooms are emanating from several locations along a segment of the bed and banks of the Clearwater River over an estimated distance of 60 feet, and a new bloom is observed about every 30 seconds.
Access to the affected segment of the Clearwater River and adjoining shoreline is unrestricted. The river is used for a wide variety of recreational activities such as boating, fishing, and swimming, and there are public water intakes located downstream from the site.
1.1.3 Preliminary Removal Assessment/Removal Site Inspection Results
30 December 2011
Absorbent booms were placed in the river by local fire department and law enforcement personnel, along with the Regional Response Team on Friday.
As a precautionary measure, the nearby cardlock facility was shut down pending a site assessment. The Clearwater County Road Department deployed an excavator to construct a trench adjacent to the cardlock facility to determine if the release was due to the facility. The excavation was advanced to about 15 feet below ground surface (bgs), and although there was a strong odor of gasoline at about 12 feet bgs, no product was observed. The bottom of the excavation did not reach the water table. The excavation was non-conclusive.
31 December 2011
Staff from the EPA, the Nez Perce Tribe (NPT), the local fire, law enforcement, and road maintenance, and the owners of the cardlock facility met on-site early Saturday morning. The site history and current use was described and discussed. Historical adjacent site uses included railroad and vehicle maintenance activities, and several underground storage tanks are suspected to be nearby. Additionally, the site is nearby an abandoned landfill. The blooms were again observed to be emanating from several locations over an estimated distance of 60 feet.
Atkinson Distributing Inc. is a member of the Idaho Petroleum Storage Tank Fund (PSTF), which is a state-created, not-for-profit insurance organization that provides coverage for approved petroleum cleanup costs. In advance of contacting the PSTF, Atkinson agreed to keep the cardlock facility closed, to arrange for pressure testing the cardlock subsurface lines (which were last tested in March 2011), and to review product inventory records to determine if there has been a noticeable loss of product. Additionally, local fire and law enforcement personnel agreed to periodically inspect and maintain the booms.
All parties agreed with the foregoing approach, and anticipate that EPA and the NPT will be contacted by the PSTF the week of 2 January 2012.
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