Environmental cleanup continues but no immediate threat remains from gas pipeline leak
GIRARD TWP. — Officials left a lot of questions unanswered Wednesday about the break in a 10-inch petroleum pipeline that flooded about 8,400 gallons of gasoline into a farm field eight miles north of Coldwater. They said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference no immediate environmental threat remains.
BP line operators received signals that showed the leak at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The flow stopped at 9:33 p.m., according to Branch County Emergency Manager Tim Miner.
Miner said BP response teams came to the site to close “a couple of valves” manually.
Gasoline was visible in the field 90 yards west of Bell Road across from the entrance to Potawatomi Campground at 1117 Bell Road.
BP responders removed around another 3,000 gallons of gasoline left in the pipeline.
BP, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, the Michigan State Police, the Branch County Sheriff, and Emergency Management arrived during the night. Tekonsha and Coldwater fire units stood by.
The road was closed, and residents at six homes close to the leak were evacuated. All were able to return home by 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Cesar Rodriguez, media relations manager for BP, told a news conference Wednesday evening there was no information on the type and cause of the break in the line that carries petroleum products from the BP Whiting, Indiana refinery to a terminal on the River Rouge.
Rodriguez said there are a lot “of questions still to be answered.”
Miner said there was a strong smell of gas at the site. Gas was visible in the field, but BP removed material and gasoline-soaked ground.
Rodriguez said, as of 4 p.m., “We’ve had aerial drones in the area just to make sure that there are no other impacted areas. Now, no odor, and no sheen.”
There are several lakes and ponds in the immediate area along with Hog Creek.
Eric Cole of the EPA said, “With the assistance of the Michigan State Police, we did overflights of the surface waters this morning. We didn’t see any kind of sheen or petroleum product in the surface waters of rivers, ponds and the lakes and streams.” There are wetlands nearby.
EPA said air monitoring would continue, and the agency will sample the soils in the area.
Except at the break location, tests of water and soil in the immediate area showed no pollution from the spill, but testing will continue, Cole said.
BP will provide the one homeowner closest to the spill with bottled water for drinking.
Bell Road remains closed to all but the homeowners. Miner said there remains a danger of explosion and fire as the materials are moved on-site by heavy equipment monitored by EGLE.
Cole and Rodriguez said plans for disposal of the contaminated materials are not yet settled.
Rodriguez was still determining when the line was last inspected.
No one is sure how long the clean-up will take or when the pipeline can be repaired.
Miner and Cole said the operation will continue until all contamination is removed.
The BP manager said there should be no impact on gasoline prices from the closure. He did not have details on the volume of petroleum carried in the line.
State records indicated Standard Oil built the line in the 1970s. BP bought Standard Oil in the 1990s. Regulators show the pipe is buried between five to seven feet in most areas.
---Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Environmental cleanup continues but no immediate threat remains from gas pipeline leak
