Large oil spill befouls Heinz wildlife refuge

Cleanup crews were working nonstop after a pipeline ruptured. The area has 2 endangered species.

By Sandy Bauers INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

An aged oil pipeline crossing an environmentally sensitive wetlands refuge ruptured over the weekend, disgorging more than 56,000 gallons of crude oil - enough to fill a backyard swimming pool - and threatening wildlife, including rare frog and turtle species.

Yesterday, at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, crews from Sunoco Inc. continued their around-the-clock cleanup. The site is near Interstate 95 and Philadelphia International Airport.

The workers drilled holes in the 10-inch-thick ice over a pond where the oil had accumulated. As the oil pooled in the holes, they vacuumed it up. The spill was discovered Saturday by a hiker.

Sunoco officials said late last night that 56,000 gallons had been recovered. Gerald Davis, a spokesman for Sunoco, which owns the pipeline, said earlier that it was impossible to determine exactly how much oil was left to be cleaned up.

About 28,000 other gallons of liquid - possibly water mixed with oil - also was removed, said John Gerdelman, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

He said Sunoco could face penalties for the spill, but added, "At this point, the major focus is on cleanup."

Bradley Campbell, regional administrator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said that while his agency was pleased with Sunoco's response so far, it still had concerns.

"The spill was discovered by happenstance, by a visitor noticing the smell of oil," Campbell said. "That's not, in the EPA view, an adequate leak-detection system."

The issue is especially critical, he said, because Sunoco wants to reroute a portion of the oil line as part of the airport's expansion. The new line would be buried about 50 feet below ground - right on top of an aquifer that provides drinking water for New Jersey residents. "This is not a situation where you can have a leak go undetected for a long time," he said.

Davis said workers had not determined what caused the rupture. They managed to dig to the 50-year-old pipe, which was about 10 feet underground, and hoped to be able to investigate after clearing away a bit more muck.

He said cleanup crews likely would continue working 24 hours a day this week, then begin day shifts next week.

"There is going to be a lot of residual stuff," said Dick Nugent, the refuge's manager. Crews "are going to have to persist. They will need booms and absorbents. This is going to take weeks."

Remedying damage to the site and its wildlife could take longer.

"Our people and Sunoco's contractors will be doing long-term natural-resources studies," Nugent said. "We'll be keeping tabs on this."

Not many birds or wildlife were immediately affected because the pond was frozen. However, Nugent said, "it's what's under the ice that's the big unknown."

Microorganisms that constitute the beginning of the food chain could be affected, as well as many reptiles and fish. Two species of special concern to Nugent are the red-bellied turtle and the coastal leopard frog, both considered endangered by state wildlife officials.

The pipeline is a 24-inch conduit channeling oil from the off-loading docks of Hog Island to Darby Creek Storage, a tank farm Sunoco owns. The oil then is transferred to Sunoco's Philadelphia refinery.

The age of a pipe "is not really a risk factor," said Roger Little, data analyst for the Office of Pipeline Safety in the federal Department of Transportation. "The care and monitoring are more an issue."

Four other Sunoco pipelines, presumably of the same vintage, run through the refuge - a fact that worries Nugent.

"Being such an urbanized refuge, I'm not really surprised we have such instances," Nugent said.

The 1,200-acre refuge is believed to be the only one in the nation that encompasses a landfill - the former Folcroft Landfill, which contained toxic waste. Five wells within the refuge monitor for toxic runoff.

The refuge encompasses a type of wetlands known as a freshwater tidal marsh - the state's largest site. Such marshes are both fragile and rare. Upstream, the wetlands are freshwater, but not tidal. Downstream, they are tidal, but infused with saltwater.

Wetlands such as this occur only in thin swatches along the midsections of coastal watersheds.

Loaded with oxygen and nutrients, these marshes harbor such a diversity of plant and animal life that they have been compared to tropical rainforests.

It's not as if the marsh could be paved and re-created in some other, more suitable, place.

Nugent, for one, said he thought it was in a perfect spot already, from a wildlife point of view - and not in spite of its urban surroundings, but because of it.

"The site is all the more precious because so much of the Delaware shoreline has been developed," said Cindy Adams Dunn, executive director of the Pennsylvania Audubon Society. "It's an oasis."

Migrating birds that need to stop and rest or refuel cannot really fly much farther. Surrounded by industry, the refuge has endured a host of assaults over the years.

Each spring, crews descend on the area and haul out an accumulation of tires, shopping carts, washing machines and other refuse.

Last August, regional EPA officials recommended that portions of the refuge and adjacent areas be added to the Superfund National Priorities List.

The refuge can trace its beginnings to Gulf Oil Corp., which originally owned the Sunoco site and the pipe that ruptured Saturday. Gulf sold the operation to Chevron Corp., which sold it to Sunoco.

In the late 1950s, Gulf deeded the pond and 145 acres surrounding it to the City of Philadelphia to be managed as a refuge.

In 1972, Congress re-created the site as a federal refuge.

Inquirer staff writer Larry Lewis contributed to this article.

Link:

http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/2000/Feb/08/front_page/SSPILL08.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 08, 2000

Answers

link

-- (kb8umw@yahoo.com), February 08, 2000.