NRG Dickerson Plant Found to be Source of Potomac River Oil Sheen; less than 150 gallons of oil leaked

NRG Dickerson Plant Found to be Source of Potomac River Oil Sheen
Company Agrees to Join Unified Command Working to Remedy the Situation, Protect Public Health
12/05/2016
Contact Information:
Terri A. White (white.terri-a@epa.gov)
215-814-5523

PHILADELPHIA, (December 5, 2016) – The Unified Command, led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has identified the NRG Dickerson Power Plant in Maryland as the source of the sheen that showed up on the Potomac River more than a week ago. U.S. Coast Guard laboratory analysis on Dec. 5 of sheen samples taken from the River identified the product as lubricating oil matching samples taken at the Dickerson plant and at Whites Ferry. NRG officials have been notified and agreed to join the Unified Command as the responsible party. All Unified Command parties are working to remedy the problem and ensure protection of public health. The discharge, which has largely dissipated, was less than 150 gallons.

On Nov. 27, NRG notified and began working with EPA and other Unified Command agencies to identify the source. By Dec. 2, the sheen had diminished considerably, with nominal sheen sighted in two locations – south of Whites Ferry and near NRG’s Dickerson power plant. On Dec. 4, shoreline assessments completed by foot and then by boat from Whites Ferry up to the Dickerson Plant revealed degraded sheen in these same areas. There is no evidence of new sheen. Rather, it appears that degraded sheen from the original discharge which is lodged in small discreet spots south of the plant, releases due to changing weather and shoreline conditions.

Inspections at all locations where boom is in place to protect drinking water intakes confirmed that the boom continues to divert the degraded sheen away from intake locations. Inspection and maintenance of boom will continue, as will sampling at water intakes by the water utilities. EPA continues to support requests for analyses performed by the agency’s mobile lab on-site at the Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant.

Based on information provided to EPA during daily conference calls with the water utilities, none of the intakes actively used by water utilities have revealed spill-related constituents. Treated water is also being sampled by water utilities to determine if spill-related constituents are present.

The Unified Command consists of EPA, the U.S. Coast Guard, Maryland Department of Environment, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Department of Health, Washington D.C. Department of Energy and the Environment, and NRG.

cited NN Metal Stampings Inc. for nine serious and two other-than-serious safety violations after workers exposed to machine, electrical hazards

December 6, 2016

OSHA finds workers exposed to machine, electrical hazards

Employer Name:

NN Metal Stampings Inc.

510 Maple St.

Pioneer, Ohio

Citations issued: Dec. 2, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited NN Metal Stampings Inc. for nine serious and two other-than-serious safety violations. OSHA initiated an investigation after receiving a complaint of unsafe working conditions at the Pioneer company that stamps metal parts for the automotive and appliance industry.
The agency's August 2016 inspection found the company:

• Exposed workers to operating parts of machinery because parts were not locked out during service and maintenance and employees were not properly trained on machine safety procedures.
• Failed to provide adequate personal protective equipment for workers performing electrical work.
• Violated electrical safe work practices.
• Did not develop safety procedures for die setting, mechanical power presses and other machinery.
• Failed to inspect fork trucks prior to each use and re-evaluate operators at least every three years.

Quote: "Each year hundreds of workers are injured because employers fail to implement machine safety procedures and train workers to safely perform their jobs," said Joe Margetiak, acting area director of OSHA's Toledo office. "NN Metal Stampings needs to immediately review their safety and health management system and training procedures to protect workers on the job." 

Proposed Penalties: $77,322

View Citations here.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the Toledo Area Office at (419) 259-7542.

# # #

Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio Deputy Dies After Car Plummets Into Sinkhole
Updated at 05:31am, December 6, 2016


A deputy in San Antonio, Texas, has died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday night.


Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. (Credit: San Antonio Fire Department)

Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, was off-duty at the time of the fatal crash, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. Two other people were injured.

Nishihara, who had worked as a reserve deputy for seven years, had transitioned into a part-time deputy role at the Bexar County Courthouse, Bexar Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said in a statement.

“My heart and prayers go out to the family involved in this tragedy,” San Antonio Mayor Ivy R. Taylor said in a statement.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m. Sunday night, Nishihara’s car was headed down Quintana Road when it crashed into a 12-foot-deep sinkhole, CNN affiliate WOAI reported. Rushing water quickly poured into the car from a sewer main. Soon, the vehicle submerged.

By Monday morning, emergency responders shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission, during which emergency workers attempted to pull the vehicles out of the sinkhole.

“We suffered a few collapses that widened the sinkhole, and our technical rescue team firefighters were exposed to raw sewage at a fast, flowing rate, as well as very cold water,” Chief Charles Hood of the San Antonio Fire Department told WOAI.

San Antonio Councilman Rey Saldana has since called for action in order to avoid similar tragedies in the future.

“We must identify the origins of the problem that caused yesterday’s sinkhole incident,” Saldana said in a statement.


Dora Linda Nishihara, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, died after her car fell into a sinkhole Sunday, December 4, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas, according to a post on the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Twitter page. (Credit: San Antonio Fire Department)

New Jersey State trooper and male driver killed after the male driver traveling southbound in his Toyota Corolla crossed the grass median, entered the northbound lanes and crashed head-on into a marked state police vehicle

New Jersey state trooper dies of injuries after crash





Chopper 6 over a crash in Millville, New Jersey involving a state police vehicle.

Updated 1 hr 18 mins ago
MILLVILLE, N.J. -- A New Jersey state trooper and another man were killed in a head-on highway crash.

It happened around 7 p.m. Monday in Millville, in the southern part of the state.









The scene outside Cooper University Hospital where a New Jersey state police trooper was pronounced dead after a crash on December 5, 2016.
A man traveling southbound in his Toyota Corolla crossed the grass median, entered the northbound lanes and crashed head-on into a marked state police vehicle. Trooper Frankie Williams was on duty and responding to a call at the time of the collision, state police said in a statement early Tuesday.

The unidentified man was pronounced dead at the scene. Trooper Williams, 31, was flown to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where he was pronounced dead, state police said.

News helicopter video showed the mangled cars and debris littering the roadway. The crash remained under investigation early Tuesday.

State police said Williams, of Atlantic County, was a member of the 156th State Police Class, which graduated January 29, 2016. He was assigned to Port Norris Station.

No other information was immediately available.

Kimmi Kay Chute, 47, is charged with second-degree felony insurance fraud after Jeep found in ravine

Kimmi Kay Chute, 47, is charged with second-degree felony insurance fraud. South Ogden police said in charging documents Nov. 28, 2016, that Chute reported her Jeep stolen and filed an insurance claim. Police said a friend had told Chute he "can make the Jeep disappear." The Jeep was found in the bottom of a ravine near Mantua.
 
 South Ogden woman charged with insurance fraud after Jeep found in ravine

Monday , December 05, 2016 - 5:00 AM
 





MARK SHENEFELT, Standard-Examiner Staff


  SOUTH OGDEN, UTAH — A South Ogden woman has been charged with felony insurance fraud after she reported her Jeep Cherokee stolen and it was found at the bottom of a national forest ravine in Box Elder County.

South Ogden police said Kimmi Chute, 47, reported the theft to police and filed an auto insurance claim for the vehicle, saying it had disappeared overnight June 30. But the Jeep was located July 1 via GPS trackers installed by the dealership that had leased it to Chute.

Officers later learned Chute had been having financial troubles, the Jeep had transmission problems and she had told others she could no longer afford the $600 payment, a probable cause statement filed in 2nd District Court said. Under questioning Aug. 1 at the police station, she admitted she had talked to a family friend who “told her he can make the Jeep disappear,” the document said.


That man showed up at her home two days later, and she asked him if he had taken the Jeep, but he wouldn’t tell her, the probable cause statement said.

Ken Knighton, owner of K&J Auto in Bountiful, said he reported the GPS’s coordinates to authorities. The Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office found the mangled Jeep in a ravine in the Cache National Forest near Mantua.

“We lost our shirts on this deal,” Knighton said Friday.

Chute’s insurance carrier denied the claim, and K&J Auto has a high insurance deductible on its leased vehicles, Knighton said. He estimates he lost up to $5,000.

GPS devices are installed in leased vehicles as a loss prevention move, he said. It allows some people who could not otherwise afford a vehicle to get a decent car with a $300 down-payment or deposit.

“It’s a hell of a risk for us,” he said.

South Ogden Police Detective Tony Perfetto said Friday, “You are starting to see a lot of these places helping with our investigations. They are more and more protective of their investments.”

State Insurance Department statistics show the agency handles an average of 36 false auto theft cases each year. The total rose to 49 cases in 2015.

Armand Glick, director of the department’s Fraud Division, said most of such cases are referred to his agency by insurance carriers.

“We’re probably able to prove about half of those cases,” Glick said. “They’re difficult to prove unless you’ve got a witness or the vehicle has been listed for sale for months or mechanical issues — three days prior they are diagnosed and all of a sudden the car is gone.”

Many cases stem from individuals in rough financial times, Glick said, but the Fraud Division also investigates organized fraud rings.

“We had one big staged ring with 14 to 17 cars all related to the same group,” he said. “They were racing vehicles, they’d blow the motor, they’re still paying on the car, they have someone chop it up and it’s reported stolen.”

Perfetto said he’s investigated three insurance fraud cases this year, including a staged burglary.

“Property crime is on the upward trend, unfortunately,” he said, attributing much of it to people trying to pay for their drug habits.

The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimates the crimes cost the economy $96 billion annually. It said up to 30 percent of policy holders’ insurance premiums are due to charges added to cover industry losses from fraud.

Not just consumers commit insurance fraud, the coalition said, noting insurers and service providers also defraud — especially in the health care industry.

In South Ogden, Chute was served with a summons Nov. 28 to appear in court Jan. 10 to answer a second-degree felony count of false or fraudulent insurance claim. Court records show she has not yet been assigned or hired an attorney.

Perfetto said police were unable to develop charges against the 45-year-old man suspected of rolling the Jeep into the ravine.