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Conway oil spill impacting wildlife
At least 25,000 gallons of gasoline continues to seep from the BP pipeline in Conway.
CONWAY, Wash. - State Route 534 between Cedardale Road and Bulson Road in Conway remained closed Tuesday night as crews continued cleaning and investigating a gas spill in the area.
The Environmental Protection Agency says a 3/8 inch diameter tube at a vault connected to the BP-operated Olympic Pipeline is to blame for more than 25,000 gallons of gasoline spilling into Hill Ditch and Bulson Creek.
The Department of Ecology says an alarm went off around 4 a.m. Sunday, alerting crews of the fuel leak.
"When the company became aware of the leak, they started the process that shuts down the pipeline," said Bill Dunbar, spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dunbar says the shutdown process took several hours and crews have since placed 1600 feet of containment boom in impacted waters, to prevent gasoline from leaking into the Skagit River.
"Right now we are really concentrating on keeping the product where it is and slowly cleaning it up," said Dunbar.
While the agency says sheen is no longer detected in the affected waterways, neighbors say signs of the spill still remain.
"It's the residue of the fuel getting caught up in the grass and so forth, and it is still there and nobody is talking about this at all about when they're going to clean that up," said Rebecca Scales.
Her property runs along Hill Ditch and says no government agency notified her about the spill when it happened Sunday morning.
"I was at a store and my neighbor called and said, 'Hey, don't have any matches outside because we've got fuel, some kind of fuel in the ditch,'" said Scales.
Scales says neighbors relied on each other for information.
Dunbar could not comment on why neighbors were not notified, but praised the multi-agency efforts.
"This is one of those responses that has gone very, very well," said Dunbar.
Scales says she has since been in contact with the Department of Ecology and has appreciated their response but describes the initial handling of the spill as "terrible."
The EPA says air monitoring systems showed no levels that are dangerous to the public since the spill occurred, but Scales is worried about the long-term impacts on the water and on the land.
"My concern now is the contamination of my soil and whether we're even going to be able to use it or not," said Scales.
Dunbar says crews will be conducting surveillance in Hill Ditch tomorrow morning but gave no estimate on when crews will finish cleaning the spill area.
"We'll have to take it on a case by case basis, take a look at how much has accumulated in any given spot and determine when the next best step is," said Dunbar.
For now, he advises the public to avoid the area and to stay out of the affected water.
The EPA says students will be able to return to Conway Elementary School on Wednesday and one lane of SR 534 reopened around 6 a.m.
Anyone who sees animals in distress near the affected portion of SR-534 should report it to the Oiled Wildlife Hotline number: 1-800-22-BIRDS.