Friday, May 1, 2015

CHEMICAL SPILL OF LESS THAN 200 GALLONS OF A NATURAL GAS DESICCANT CLOSES EASTBOUND LANES OF U.S. 50 IN WV.





MAY 1, 2015

CLARKSBURG, WV

A chemical spill near Sun Valley closed down both eastbound lanes of U.S. 50 for almost two hours Friday, but the incident turned out to be less serious than initially thought, officials said.

According to Harrison 911 logs, the spill was reported just before 3 p.m. Friday and occurred near mile marker 72.

Initial reports indicated that 200 gallons of Norkool Desitherm — a substance used to dehydrate natural gas — had spilled in the vicinity, Harrison-Taylor 911 Director Paul Bump said.

But after investigating the scene first-hand, Bump said the amount of the substance that had spilled was "absolutely" less than 200 gallons.

"The quantity is unknown," Bump said. "There's no evidence of product on the ground, so the quantity is going to be smaller than (200 gallons)."

Early reports indicated that the substance spilled out of the top of a tanker truck operated by Venezia Hauling that was turning into Matthews Lubricants just off of U.S. 50, Bump said.

"The report is when he turned in the facility some failure of a hatch on the top allowed it to slosh out," Bump said.

Bump did not know who first reported the incident to emergency officials. He confirmed that it was not the driver of the tanker or an employee at the facility, "but it was somebody who knew what the stuff was called."

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection was also notified of the incident Friday. DEP spokeswoman Kelley Gillenwater said officials with Ryan Environmental were called in by the companies involved Friday to handle any cleanup efforts.

But Bump said there was no evidence of anything pooled up in the area.
The initial report had four local fire departments and Harrison EMS on the scene, Bump said. The potential hazard led officials to close off both eastbound lanes of U.S. 50, he said.

"The fire department did what is prudent. They isolated the area, tried to determine what it was," Bump said, adding that officials "approached carefully with protective gear" before determining "there was no significant hazard." 
Officials were eventually able to open up the left lane to traffic, Bump said. Environmental crews were still on scene investigating late Friday afternoon, he said.

Reynoldsville, Salem, Nutter Fort and Stonewood volunteer fire departments all responded, Bump said.

According to the material safety data sheet for Norkool Desitherm, the substance is made up primarily of triethylene glycol and is defined as a "hazardous chemical" by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's Hazard Communication Standard.  However, the triethylene glycol is not regulated by the DOT.

Source: http://www.theet.com