Unified Command responds to diesel spill in Sitka Sound
Aug 17th, 2015
SITKA, Alaska —
A Unified Command has been formed to respond to a release of diesel fuel from the Jarvis St. Power Plant over the weekend.
Cleanup efforts continued Monday, involving local, state and federal officials. Authorities are investigating what impact it may have on fish in the Indian River area, where the first report of diesel came in Saturday. Salmon are running in the river.
Coast Guard Sector Juneau, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation pollution responders from Juneau and members of Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Sitka are coordinating clean-up efforts with the City of Sitka, National Park Service and tribal organization.
City of Sitka personnel received a report Saturday of diesel washing ashore in Sitka Sound. City of Sitka notified MSD Sitka personnel who responded and recovered approximately 50 gallons of diesel.
The source was identified from the Jarvis St. Power Plant, Sunday, which had released an estimated 30,000 gallons of diesel into the storage tank facility’s secondary containment. An estimated 2,500 gallons of diesel leaked into the storm drain system and into Sitka Sound due to a reported failure of the drain valve.
The models suggest that the amount of diesel that has evaporated since the release is significant.
The containment drain was secured and all diesel in the containment was pumped out recovering an estimated 23,000 gallons.
An aggressive response has been mounted to minimize the amount of diesel reaching Sitka Sound. Recovery of oil in the storm drain system and at the outfall of the storm drain with containment boom absorbent materials continues.
There were no reports of injuries, no confirmed reports of impacts to wildlife or theresources of the National Park.
“Cleanup efforts are continuing and we hope to mitigate the effects of the spill and remove the threat of pollution to the environment as quickly as possible,” said Chief Warrant Officer Michael Wortman, federal on-scene coordinator. “The Coast Guard will continue to work alongside our federal, state, and local partner agencies in response to this spill.”
The cause of the spill is currently under investigation.
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A storage tank at Sitka’s Jarvis Street Diesel Plant failed over the weekend (8-15-15), spilling an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 gallons of diesel into Sitka Sound near the mouth of Indian River.
Teams from the city, state, and Coast Guard are working to contain and clean up the spill — and to find out what caused it.
As of Sunday night, it wasn’t yet clear exactly how much diesel had actually made it into Sitka Sound.
The Jarvis Street Diesel Plant is owned by the city — it’s Sitka’s backup power station — and City Administrator Mark Gorman said the failed storage tank released about 30,000 gallons of diesel into a cement containment enclosure. Some portion of that — perhaps as much as 7,000 gallons — then leaked into the storm water system, which empties into the ocean at Eagle Beach.
Gorman said that though the release is near the mouth of Indian River, so far there’s no sign of diesel in the river itself, and the spill has been contained to Eagle Beach and the water near Cannon Island.
The Fire Department estimated that about 40 people from the city, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the Coast Guard, and the National Park Service were on site Sunday, using boom and absorbent material to contain and soak up the spill. Speaking Sunday evening, Gorman said the efforts so far have had a visible impact.
“I was down at the impacted area this evening twice, and you can smell it in the air, but there’s no sheen on the water at this point in time, so it seems to be dispersing pretty rapidly,” Gorman said.
According to a press release from the city, the Fire Department first received a call around 11 a.m. Saturday (8-15-15) reporting a heavy smell of diesel near Eagle Beach. Assistant Fire Chief Al Stevens says the department found a small patch of diesel in the water, but couldn’t locate its source. He says responders thought it had perhaps come from a fishing vessel in the area, and contacted both the state and Coast Guard.
The city then received a second call on Sunday, reporting a sheen on the water near Cannon Island. This time, the Fire Department traced the spill to a storm drain on Sawmill Creek Road, and eventually followed it back to the Jarvis Street Diesel Plant.
Around 1 p.m. Sunday, The Fire Department initiated its Incident Command System, marshalling resources from the city, state, Coast Guard, and National Park Service. Stevens says the leak was stopped around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, and teams worked throughout the afternoon to mop up the spill. “It certainly is a big deal,” he said.
But Gorman added that diesel is much easier to clean up than, say, crude oil.
“Diesel is not o,” Gorman said. “If this was an oil spill, I think the 7,000 gallons going into the Sound would be alarming. It’s not good to have diesel going into the sound, but diesel does evaporate and dissipate quite rapidly.”
It’s not yet clear why the tank failed, or how the diesel leaked out of the containment enclosure. The city, state and Coast Guard are all involved in that investigation.