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11-19-2006, 11:04 PM
Three drilling rigs go after spill near Crystal Mountain
SUSAN GORDON; The News Tribune
Published: November 19th, 2006 01:00 AM
Three drilling rigs have bored 19 test wells – one as deep as 55 feet underground – to detect diesel from the 18,000-gallon spill two weeks ago near the Crystal Mountain ski area.
About 2,500 gallons of oil from a Puget Sound Energy generator has been recovered, Ron Holcomb, the Department of Ecology spill response coordinator on the site, said Friday. Of that, about 525 gallons were collected Thursday night, he said.
The spill took place Nov. 3 after an apparent malfunction of an electrical relay switch linked to a pump that pulls diesel out of underground tanks.
The tanks hold 36,000 gallons of diesel for a backup generator serving Crystal Mountain and the nearby community of Greenwater, Holcomb said. The week of the spill, Puget Sound Energy ran a routine test of the generator, he said.
The generator stands about a half-mile from the Crystal Mountain ticket booth, near the F parking lot, a Puget Sound Energy official said.
Officials still haven’t mapped the extent of the spill, so they don’t know how long it will take to clean it up.
“I don’t think we’ll be going 24 hours a day a month from now, but it’s just difficult to say,” said Steve Secrist, Puget Sound Energy’s director of environmental policy.
He said he cannot accurately estimate how much the utility has so far spent in response to the spill.
Under state and federal law, the responsible party – in this case Puget Sound Energy – must pay for the cleanup and damages, Holcomb said.
Thousands of gallons have soaked into the soil, including along a 1,300-foot stretch of utility corridor, a dirt road that parallels Crystal Mountain Boulevard. The boulevard connects the ski area to Highway 410.
“We have crews up there excavating as we speak,” Secrist said.
The recovery effort involves about 70 people, including an environmental consultant, the utility and officials from the state Department of Ecology, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, where the spill took place.
“They’ve been boring holes. They’ve been digging trenches,” said Dorothy Bracken, a utility spokeswoman.
The utility has hired an environmental cleanup consultant, GeoEngineers, plus several cleanup contractors, Holcomb said.
In addition to the three drilling rigs, a mobile testing laboratory has been hauled to the site. Absorbent pads have been used to soak up some diesel seeping out of the ground.
The diesel is colored red to identify its intended use as generator fuel, Holcomb said.
The utility is providing bottled water to the occupants of at least four vacation cabins in the area, he said. So far, no damage to salmon has been documented.
More information
For updates on the Crystal Mountain oil spill, go to www.ecy.wa.gov/ ecyhome.html.
Click on spills, then response, then active spills of interest, then “PSE Crystal Mountain Spill, Nov. 3, 2006.”
Susan Gordon: 253-597-8756
susan.gordon@thenewstribune.com
Source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6240869p-5449027c.html
SUSAN GORDON; The News Tribune
Published: November 19th, 2006 01:00 AM
Three drilling rigs have bored 19 test wells – one as deep as 55 feet underground – to detect diesel from the 18,000-gallon spill two weeks ago near the Crystal Mountain ski area.
About 2,500 gallons of oil from a Puget Sound Energy generator has been recovered, Ron Holcomb, the Department of Ecology spill response coordinator on the site, said Friday. Of that, about 525 gallons were collected Thursday night, he said.
The spill took place Nov. 3 after an apparent malfunction of an electrical relay switch linked to a pump that pulls diesel out of underground tanks.
The tanks hold 36,000 gallons of diesel for a backup generator serving Crystal Mountain and the nearby community of Greenwater, Holcomb said. The week of the spill, Puget Sound Energy ran a routine test of the generator, he said.
The generator stands about a half-mile from the Crystal Mountain ticket booth, near the F parking lot, a Puget Sound Energy official said.
Officials still haven’t mapped the extent of the spill, so they don’t know how long it will take to clean it up.
“I don’t think we’ll be going 24 hours a day a month from now, but it’s just difficult to say,” said Steve Secrist, Puget Sound Energy’s director of environmental policy.
He said he cannot accurately estimate how much the utility has so far spent in response to the spill.
Under state and federal law, the responsible party – in this case Puget Sound Energy – must pay for the cleanup and damages, Holcomb said.
Thousands of gallons have soaked into the soil, including along a 1,300-foot stretch of utility corridor, a dirt road that parallels Crystal Mountain Boulevard. The boulevard connects the ski area to Highway 410.
“We have crews up there excavating as we speak,” Secrist said.
The recovery effort involves about 70 people, including an environmental consultant, the utility and officials from the state Department of Ecology, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, where the spill took place.
“They’ve been boring holes. They’ve been digging trenches,” said Dorothy Bracken, a utility spokeswoman.
The utility has hired an environmental cleanup consultant, GeoEngineers, plus several cleanup contractors, Holcomb said.
In addition to the three drilling rigs, a mobile testing laboratory has been hauled to the site. Absorbent pads have been used to soak up some diesel seeping out of the ground.
The diesel is colored red to identify its intended use as generator fuel, Holcomb said.
The utility is providing bottled water to the occupants of at least four vacation cabins in the area, he said. So far, no damage to salmon has been documented.
More information
For updates on the Crystal Mountain oil spill, go to www.ecy.wa.gov/ ecyhome.html.
Click on spills, then response, then active spills of interest, then “PSE Crystal Mountain Spill, Nov. 3, 2006.”
Susan Gordon: 253-597-8756
susan.gordon@thenewstribune.com
Source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6240869p-5449027c.html