Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 13:11:57 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Tyler Bell Subject: Winds Sweep Oil Into Patuxent Comments: To: jane_kostenko@co.saint-marys.md.us, monkee_fan@hotmail.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Winds Sweep Oil Into Patuxent=20 =09 By Steven Gray Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, April 10, 2000; Page B01=20 Yesterday's fierce winds and heavy overnight rain pushed some of the 110,000 gallons of fuel oil that leaked from a Potomac Electric Power Co. pipeline into the Patuxent River, severely hampering efforts to scoop the oil, federal and Maryland officials said.=20 The oil spill, one of the largest ever in the state, occurred Friday = night and at first was mostly contained to Swanson's Creek and about 45 acres = of marshland near Pepco's Chalk Point Generation Station in Aquasco. But yesterday the plume of oil moved into the nearby Patuxent River, about = two miles south of the plant. The spill now affects land in Calvert and = Prince George's counties. Some residents of the area said yesterday that the oil is as much as two inches deep on the water and has fouled about 100 feet of the riverbank, blanketing the beach about three feet from the water's edge. They also complained that the oil smells bad. Officials said last night that they did not know how long the cleanup or restoration of the area might take. But officials said they believed the initial cleanup of the Patuxent should only take only a few days. "Our first priorities are to re-contain this oil in Swanson's Creek and = to remove it from the Patuxent River. This will continue as long as the high winds persist," said Colby Stanton, the lead coordinator for the Federal Environmental Protection Agency. Under a 1990 pollution law, the EPA is directed to investigate the cause of major releases of oil. Pepco Chairman John M. Derrick Jr. said yesterday that he has ordered about 100 people to begin work today to lower cotton-like "blankets" capable of absorbing the oil that has spilled along the bank. "We are eager to protect the wildlife and sensitive wetland area and intend to restore the marsh and any other affected shoreline to their original beauty," he said. Investigators haven't determined exactly how or where the 12-inch steel pipeline ruptured. The leak occurred in a 12-mile stretch of the 51-mile pipeline that usually carries oil to generate electricity during the winter and summer. The pipeline ordinarily carries oil similar in consistency to mayonnaise. But the spill occurred when lighter oil, similar to heating oil, was sent through the pipe in preparation for regular inspection. The company learned of the leak about 6 p.m. Friday and within 30 minutes had lowered floating booms spanning a mile across the creek in an effort to prevent water from seeping into the Patuxent River, officials said. By midnight, officials had isolated a 1,500-foot section that contained the leak and had shut down the pipeline. U.S. Coast Guard and Pepco sent equipment from Baltimore and Norfolk into the river yesterday. Oil was vacuumed into four tanker trucks, and additional booms were repositioned into the creek and marsh area in an effort to contain the oil. Stanton said that about a dozen muskrats have been found dead from the spill and that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crews have pulled three swans and four ducks from the water, all still alive. Carol Lehman, who lives in a subdivision near where Swanson Creek flows into the Patuxent River, described the oil as "thick and viscous and floating on the surface on the water." "If the tide goes out, it stays on the beach," she said. "Now, it's breaking up, because the waves are coming in." Tyler Bell mailto:bell@acnatsci.org California, MD http://www.audubon.org/listserv/md-smas-general.html http://www.audubon.org/listserv/nd-birds.html ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================