Conectiv cleans 10% of oil spill

By JEFF MONTGOMERY Staff reporter 03/08/2000

Makeshift sumps have drawn about 60,000 gallons of oil from polluted ground at the Indian River Power Plant, Conectiv officials said Tuesday, and work is under way on longer-term removal wells.

Utility managers displayed their effort one week after state regulators revealed that 600,000 gallons of diesel fuel had leaked from a buried 2-inch pipeline at the riverside complex. Traces of oil from the 8- to 12-year-old leak reached the nearby Indian River last month.

"The leak is significant. Conectiv is taking it very seriously," said Verne Shortell, Conectiv environmental programs manager. "We are not only taking steps to mitigate the incident, but we are also trying to find ways to prevent it from ever happening again."

Company officials discovered signs of escaped oil at a plant refueling area Dec. 10 and removed the corroded pipe that was identified as its source within a week.

But the utility reported that it was unaware of the size of the problem until Feb. 4, when oil began trickling into the Indian River from shoreline soils 210 feet away from the pipeline breach.

Cleanup crews corralled the runoff with absorbent booms, and state and federal officials reported that the oil was contained without harming plants or wildlife in the area.

Rep. Shirley A. Price, D-Millville, said she was not sure wildlife and plants were unharmed.

"At this time of year, there are so few people and boats on the water that it might take a while to discover any problems," Price said.

"If there was a hole in the pipe, I thought we would have seen some quicker action," she said.

After Conectiv stopped the leak, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control ordered the utility to determine by Dec. 13 the extent of contamination, records released Tuesday by the state agency showed.

The utility reported that it thought the contamination affected a small area.

On Dec. 29, state officials issued an order for a more formal environmental study and gave the utility until Jan. 31 to report on contamination.

The company didn't acknowledge that it had received the order until Jan. 21 and still was developing plans for exploratory well drilling when the oil reached the river.

The company did not probe a wider area for oil until February, and found that a plume of oil up to 5 feet thick had spread under 2.8 acres at the plant, according to records on file with DNREC.

Plant construction records suggested that the leak developed in 1991 or later, although company officials have said the oil could have been trickling from a pencil-sized hole in the line for eight to 12 years.

Indian River plant manager Jim Spence said that NRG Energy Inc., which intends to purchase Conectiv's coal-fired Indian River plant, was aware of the spill and cleanup efforts.

Plans for the transfer of ownership have not been affected, he said.

Contractors this spring are expected to drive a 200-foot-long wall of sheet steel 20 feet into the ground between the river and power plant to block continued oil flow toward the river.

Current pumping efforts are removing 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of oil a day.

The total cleanup is projected to take several years.

http://www.delawareonline.com/news/2000/mar/story803082000.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 08, 2000

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 08, 2000.