Saturday, March 14, 2015

MAGELLAN MIDSTREAM PARTNERS PIPELINE COMPANY HAS BEGUN CLEANING UP A SPILL OF 1,575 GALLONS OF DIESEL FUEL NEAR TEHUACANA CREEK AFTER A TWO-DAY INVESTIGATION DETERMINED ITS LEAKING PIPELINE WAS THE CAUSE OF A SHEEN ON A POND NEAR THE CREEK









FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015

TEHUACANA CREEK, TEXAS

Reported ‘sheen’ on Tehuacana Creek raises oil pipeline concerns.

The Texas Railroad Commission and private pipeline operators were looking for signs of a petroleum leak Thursday at Tehuacana Creek, a few miles east of Waco on State Highway 6. The commission, which oversees the oil and gas industry, got a call Wednesday from a pilot who had noticed a “sheen” on the flooded creek, commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye said. The pipeline companies joined the commission and the U.S. Department of Transportation in investigating the incident, and crews laid down foam “booms” across the creek to capture any surface pollution. However, no sheen was clearly visible from the ground Thursday, and Nye said the status of the investigation was unclear late that day.

Then a two-day investigation was implemented and the leak in the pipeline was discovered.

An Oklahoma-based pipeline company has begun cleaning up a spill of diesel fuel near Tehuacana Creek after a two-day investigation determined its leaking pipeline was the cause of a “sheen” on a pond near the creek.

Contractors with Magellan Midstream Partners found the leak Friday and were working to repair it while installing dikes and booms to contain the floating fuel, said officials with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The TCEQ, which is overseeing the investigation and cleanup, did not have an estimate of how much diesel was spilled.  In a preliminary report to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Magellan estimated that about 50 barrels had spilled, or 1,575 gallons.

Magellan spokesman Bruce Heine said Friday afternoon that the true size of the spill “appears to be well below the amount we originally reported to regulatory authorities.” He said the company is still investigating the cause of the spill.
A TCEQ spokesman said the spill appeared to be contained in a pond about 1,200 yards from Tehuacana Creek, and no fuel appeared to enter the creek or the Brazos River downstream.

The spill site, located north of State Highway 6 just east of Loop 340, is in a marshy floodplain, and contractors had to build a temporary road of plywood to get equipment in to do the work.

Four pipelines traverse the marshy Tehuacana Creek bottomlands north of Highway 6, according to a Texas Railroad Commission online map. ExxonMobil’s pipeline carries gasoline, while Explorer Pipeline Co., Magellan Pipeline Co. and Koch Pipeline Co. transport refined petroleum products through their pipes. 

 Magellan is one of four pipeline operators in the immediate area, and regulators asked all four to investigate after the spill was reported Wednesday evening.
A pilot for Koch Pipeline Company, one of the operators, spotted the sheen while doing a routine surveillance run over the pipeline, a federal pipeline safety official said.

Heine, the Magellan spokesman, said that when the company got the call Wednesday evening, it promptly discontinued use of the 10-inch-diameter pipeline, which runs from Frost to Hearne.

The leak was expected to be repaired by late Friday.
Source: wacotrib.com