Tell Kinder Morgan to Clean Up Its Gasoline Spill
In December 2014, local residents discovered that Kinder Morgan’s Plantation Pipeline in Belton, S.C. had ruptured, spilling at least 350,000 gallons of gasoline. An old patch on the pipeline broke, and Kinder Morgan did not know about the spill until local people smelled gasoline and found gasoline pools on the ground.
Almost two years after the discovery, Kinder Morgan still has not recovered at least 160,000 gallons of gasoline, which is flowing into creeks, wetlands and groundwater in the Savannah River watershed. In fact, in 2016 Kinder Morgan has collected only 150 gallons of gasoline.
Now, Kinder Morgan has proposed that the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) allow it to continue polluting the Savannah watershed and Anderson County without cleaning up all its gasoline spill. Kinder Morgan has proposed a so-called Corrective Action Plan that lets Kinder Morgan walk away even though it is still polluting the water and that does not require Kinder Morgan to pump gasoline out of recovery wells or protect the nearby waterways adequately.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, Savannah Riverkeeper and Upstate Forever are drafting comments on the proposed Plan to ensure that this spill—the fourth largest spill in South Carolina history—is cleaned up.
But DHEC Needs to Hear from YOU! Please send comments to DHEC at this email address: [email protected]. Here are some key points:
The proposed Corrective Action Plan can be found at http://www.scdhec.gov/Apps/Environment/PublicNotices/SearchAndDisplay/PDF/4234. Comments should be submitted to DHEC by November 28, 2016 at the following email address: [email protected]
Or, you can mail comments to:
Bobbi Coleman, Hydrogeologist
SCDHEC Underground Storage Tank Management Division
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, SC 29201
803-898-0628
Almost two years after the discovery, Kinder Morgan still has not recovered at least 160,000 gallons of gasoline, which is flowing into creeks, wetlands and groundwater in the Savannah River watershed. In fact, in 2016 Kinder Morgan has collected only 150 gallons of gasoline.
Now, Kinder Morgan has proposed that the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) allow it to continue polluting the Savannah watershed and Anderson County without cleaning up all its gasoline spill. Kinder Morgan has proposed a so-called Corrective Action Plan that lets Kinder Morgan walk away even though it is still polluting the water and that does not require Kinder Morgan to pump gasoline out of recovery wells or protect the nearby waterways adequately.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, Savannah Riverkeeper and Upstate Forever are drafting comments on the proposed Plan to ensure that this spill—the fourth largest spill in South Carolina history—is cleaned up.
But DHEC Needs to Hear from YOU! Please send comments to DHEC at this email address: [email protected]. Here are some key points:
- Clean up all the gasoline pollution. In their Corrective Action Plan, Kinder Morgan and Plantation Pipeline want to be able to stop work even though they are still polluting the Savannah River watershed. The objective the companies set out in the Corrective Action Plan is to “abate surface water impacts to maintain [South Carolina and EPA] surface water criteria.” This means that the water would still be polluted by gasoline products, as long as Kinder Morgan’s tests showed that the pollution was below a certain level. Kinder Morgan polluted the water and should be required to clean up its mess and make sure that the waterway is as clean as it was before Kinder Morgan’s pipeline dumped gasoline into it.
- Remove the gasoline from the creek banks and groundwater. In the Corrective Action Plan, the maps show that some monitoring wells still have 1-2 feet of gasoline product in them. The companies should continue to pump out this gasoline pollution and install new wells to do more, as long as there is gasoline product to recover.
- Do More to Stop the Pollution. Right now, Kinder Morgan and Plantation Pipeline propose to “biosparge” the pollution. That means they will pump air into the polluted groundwater to try to get bacteria to degrade the pollution. But they have to do more biosparging to help—in addition to removing all the gasoline they can.
- Do More and Accurate Testing. Kinder Morgan and Plantation Pipeline have dragged their feet in testing to show how badly they have polluted Anderson County’s waters. Only in August of 2016 did they test the waterway where they are polluting it, and those tests showed pollution over 200 times more severe than they have previously reported. DHEC has told them also to test the “pore water”—where the contaminated groundwater enters the waterway—but so far the pipeline companies have not done so.
- Hold Kinder Morgan to a Schedule. The pipeline companies’ plan doesn’t set out a schedule they have to meet to make sure that they stop dragging their feet and clean up the gasoline pollution as soon as possible. DHEC should set out deadlines so that all the gasoline pollution will be removed from Anderson County’s waters. DHEC should also require that frequent monitoring continue in order to hold the pipeline companies to their schedule.
The proposed Corrective Action Plan can be found at http://www.scdhec.gov/Apps/Environment/PublicNotices/SearchAndDisplay/PDF/4234. Comments should be submitted to DHEC by November 28, 2016 at the following email address: [email protected]
Or, you can mail comments to:
Bobbi Coleman, Hydrogeologist
SCDHEC Underground Storage Tank Management Division
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, SC 29201
803-898-0628
