Navy Leaks 7,700 Gallons of Jet Fuel Into Bay

Virginia Pilot, What’s that smell? 7,700 gallons of jet fuel spill into the James River.

An estimated 7,700 gallons of jet fuel spilled into the James River on Friday afternoon near Newport News Shipbuilding, according to officials.

The spill happened during a refueling operation involving the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, which is nearing completion at the shipyard, according to a release from the city of Newport News.

Residents of Newport News and Hampton complained Sunday about a strong fuel odor coming off the James.

According to the Virginia Department of Health, local drinking water and tap water remain safe, and there is no impact to public water systems, the Newport News release said. But there is no broader health threat.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is leading the environmental response in coordination with the Coast Guard, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, the Virginia Department of Health, and the cities of Newport News and Hampton.

The responsible party — which wasn’t named — activated an oil spill response company to begin oil containment and recovery operations, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, including deploying containment boom, conducting boat-based recovery, and using a vacuum truck to remove captured product. The cause of the spill remains under investigation.

I know when you play with big toys you make big mistakes, but how the hell do you lose track of tanker trucks worth of jet fuel? But as much as that is, I presume it spread out pretty quickly, and a lot of it dissolved into the waters. Them oysters is gonna taste weird for a while. 

Fuel Dump Over Chesapeake Bay

 Plane Dumps Fuel Over Chesapeake Bay Before BWI Landing

A plane had to dump fuel over the Chesapeake Bay recently, WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore reported on Feb. 16.

Journalist Deborah Weiner said the pilot got a warning that the plane had an open door shortly after it left Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Jan. 11. The Europe-bound aircraft, which was a civilian plane contracted to the military, then had to return to BWI to address the caution light.

Because the flight had just departed, the aircraft still had most of its fuel and was too heavy to land at the airport. WBAL said the pilot then worked with air traffic control to coordinate the necessary dump over the bay, where the fuel was less likely to harm people or property. The contractor, Atlas Air Company, told the TV station that it followed all safety protocols and that inspectors found no problems with the plane after it safely landed at BWI.

I suspect it happens more often than you might think, especially with the military traffic out of Patuxent River Naval Air Station, but I've never heard of it before.

They should have dumped it over Baltimore; it might have cleaned some of the streets. 

Coasties Clean Up Baltimore Harbor Oil Spill

A red oil sheen is visible at the Jones Falls outfall.

Photo: Baltimore City Fire/Twitter

Oil Spill Under Investigation in Baltimore Harbor

A fuel oil spill in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor covered the water into an eerie red sheen Saturday, prompting a big environmental emergency response.

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) estimates 50 gallons of red-dyed #2 heating fuel oil spilled into the outfall of the Jones Falls at President and Pratt Streets. The Baltimore Fire Department worked with MDE and a U.S. Coast Guard contractor to help contain the spill.

On Saturday the Coast Guard contractor used a vacuum truck in an attempt to recover some of the fuel. MDE deployed a 100-foot-long piece of floating sorbent material to the spot where the Jones Falls emerges from underground, near Port Discovery and Power Plant Live. That should “help determine whether there is additional oil coming down the falls,” MDE spokesman Jay Apperson tells Bay Bulletin.

MDE says it doesn’t know the source of the spill.

And they are unlikely to spend a lot of effort trying to find out where it came from, since the fine for spilling a barrel of oil (30 gallons) is about $1,000. They would spend that much money before they spent a day in the field looking.

Court: Climate Concern No Excuse for Domestic Terrorism

From Wombat-sochos "In The Mailbox: 11.24.17", Weasel Zippers reports: Portland Man Who Used Climate Defense Found Guilty Of Pipeline Damage

He was protecting mother earth, Gaia. Via Great Falls Tribune:

Leonard Higgins, charged with tampering with an oil pipeline in Montana last year following a four-state climate change demonstration, was found guilty Wednesday by a Chouteau County jury of trespassing and criminal mischief.
The jury, which got the case at 11:15 a.m., returned an hour later with the verdict, which also included the conclusion that Higgins caused more than $1,500 in damage.
District Judge Daniel Boucher set sentencing for Jan. 2.
Following the verdict, Higgins, of Portland, said he was disappointed Boucher did not allow his defense team to present a so-called “necessity” defense in which he would have argued he committed a lesser harm because of an imminent greater harm, in this case climate change.
Had that climate change defense been allowed, Higgins said, the outcome may have been different.
“It was really frustrating not to be able to talk about climate in the courthouse,” Higgins said.
The charges stemmed from Higgins turning off an oil pipeline valve in 2016 located north of the Missouri River in Chouteau County 75 miles northeast of Great Falls as part of a coordinated, four-state effort to raise awareness about climate change.
His trial began Tuesday and the case was given to jurors for deliberation late Wednesday morning.
“This is not about climate change,” Chouteau County Attorney Steven Gannon told jurors during closing arguments.[…]
Higgins, 65, dressed in a sports coat and collared shirt, looked more like a college professor or grandpa than an “eco-terrorist,” as one oil and gas group called him following the Oct. 11, 2016 incident.
When he testified Wednesday morning, he still managed to discuss climate change in between objections.
e described himself as a church-going family man whose roots are in agriculture and he recalled picking beans growing up in Oregon.
Later in life, he got sucked into pursuing the American Dream, he said.
He grew up in Corvallis, Ore., but now lives in Portland.

Corvallis? That explains it.

Then, after soul-searching following his mother’s death and retirement in 2010, he began to consider more serious issues, including climate change.
It is his responsibility to stand up and do what is right, he said.
“Sometimes what’s right isn’t necessarily what’s legal,” Higgins said. “It was a really hard conclusion to come to.”
He read a report by a climate scientist that spurred him to action.
“In short it explains both why we have global warning, what the science is behind that and what will happen to not so much me but my kids and grandkids if we don’t do something about it,” Higgins said.

This is probably not the scientist he listened to:



So, I haven't heard what caused the recent leak of 5,000 barrels of oil from the Keystone pipeline (Not the Keystone XL, which still hasn't been finished). My guess is that the press is hiding something.

Dominion to Pay a Quarter Million for Spilled Baby Oil

Dominion agrees to enforcement action over oil spill in Augusta County

Dominion Virginia Power has agreed to paying civil fees and reimbursement costs to the state Department of Environmental Quality for the discharge of mineral oil onto private property from a transformer just outside Staunton in January.

An official decision on the enforcement action is expected in December. Approximately 9,000 gallons of mineral oil discharged from a transformer on Churchville Avenue onto a tributary of Bells Creek and a farm pond in Augusta County on Jan. 6. Le-Ha Anderson, a spokesperson for Dominion, said the oil escaped a containment area located around the transformer.

Dominion recovered 8,900 gallons of the mineral oil. Anderson said DEQ and the National Response Center were notified of the incident.

Jason Ericson, an environmental projects advisor for Dominion, said booms were used to contain the mineral oil. Cattle were fenced out of the 150-foot area of the stream tributary. Since the spill, Ericson said Dominion has excavated the contaminated soil and is reseeding the affected farm area to grow grass.

By May of 2017, Dominion must demonstrate to DEQ that the soil has been stabilized, Ericson said.

Anderson said mineral oil is a non-hazardous material used to cool transformers.

And mineral oil is the major ingredient of Baby Oil, the other ingredients being mostly things to make it smell like baby oil. And here, I thought it was made out of real babies.

So they spilled 9,000 and recovered 8,900 for a net loss of 100 gallons. What did they cost?

In response to the spill in Augusta County and a January discharge of 13,500 gallons of mineral oil from a transformer in the Crystal City substation of Arlington County, Dominion has proposed to DEQ a civil payment of $259,535 and $5,882 for reimbursement of oil discharge investigative costs.
. . .
Additionally, Dominion has spent $1.5 million for response, remediation and restoration at the West Staunton substation.

So, while the fine seems rather trivial in view of the expense they went to while cleaning up the spills, it seems rather high considering the amount of oil actually spilled, and the apparent environmental damage. However:

Twenty-one birds, mostly Canada geese, died after the oil coated their feathers, and more were treated by a wildlife rescue team. Recreational fishermen were urged not to consume fish they caught in the vicinity during the two-week period when the spill was under investigation by a U.S. Coast Guard-led team.

Well, twenty-one Canada Geese, which may have been worthwhile migratory geese or nuisance "resident" geese, they being indistinguishable in January.

Wombat-socho has "Late Night With Rule 5 Sunday" up at The Other McCain.

Environmental Terrorists Attack American Infrastructure

Media snore: Climate activists shut off oil pipelines which provide 15% of daily US consumption

Climate change activists shut off cross-border oil pipelines in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Washington on Tuesday. The activists broke in to unguarded valve stations and shut off the flow of oil before being arrested. Reuters reports:

All they had to do was twist shut giant valves on five cross-border pipelines that together can send 2.8 million barrels a day of crude to the United States from Canada – equal to about 15 percent of daily U.S. consumption.
The pipelines have valve stations every 20 miles, many of them in remote locations and protected by nothing more than a locked fence. Reuters quotes a Canadian pipeline security specialist who says, given that there are 200,000 miles of pipelines in the U.S., it would be cost prohibitive to place round-the-clock guards at all of the possible places where a pipeline could be shut off.

None of the pipelines involved were damaged and all of them were back up and running Wednesday. However, experts Reuters spoke with say this stunt could have gone very wrong:

Protesters said they spent months studying how to safely shut the valves. The ability for them to access the proprietary information necessary to shut a line safely was questioned by experts.
Either way, pipeline specialists said it was lucky there were no leaks on Tuesday. Once the valves are shut, pressure can quickly build up inside pipelines that operate under as much as 1,000 pounds (450 kg) per square inch.
Protesters were taking a chance that a weak spot in a line would not explode, and that employees in operations hubs would spring into action after hearing alarms.
“On the wrong pipeline, in the wrong place (actions like this) could kill people. This is hazardous hot liquid. It’s not something to be terrified of, but it must be respected,” said Richard Kuprewicz, president of Accufacts Inc, a pipeline advisory firm.

Needless to say, this is not protest activity it is criminal activity. According to the Duluth News, activists waited to be arrested after shutting off the valves:

Throw the book at them. And then go after their organizations for RICO violations.

Since there doesn’t seem to be any question of guilt in this case, hopefully the activists will spend some time in jail. Climate Direct Action, the group which sponsored and promoted this, is now raising funds for the legal defense of the activists.

Of course, the Obama "Just Us" Department will go easy on them.

A Million Here, A Million There, Pretty Soon You're Talking About Real Pollution

Five Million Gallons Of Sewage Spills Into Potomac River

Five million gallons of sewage spilled into the Potomac River on Wednesday. DC Water reports that about 638 million gallons of combined sewage flows into the Potomac River annually due to rainstorms.

DC Water says that the spillage occurred late in the day Wednesday when a break occurred in the Upper Potomac Intercepter, causing millions of gallons of sewage to spill onto the Capital Crescent Trail and overflow into the Potomac River. According to a release, the spill "ran overland and over the trail before reaching the river." As a result, parts of the Capital Crescent Trail—between Fletchers Cove and the end of the trail in Georgetown—will remain closed until cleanup has finished and the interceptor is repaired.

John Lisle, a spokesman for DC Water, says that the sewage spill has no effect on the city's drinking water, as the intakes on the Potomac River are upstream from where the spill occurred. He also says that cleanup and repairs for the sewage spill could take "a week or more" to complete. As of now, there's advisory for the public to "avoid contact with the Potomac River for 72 hours."

When will the cities get their acts together to prevent these overflows?

In other Potomac news, the origin of the "magical mystery oil" sheen on the Potomac from early in the month was identified as mineral oil used as a coolant for transformers, leaked at a nearby Dominion electrical substation:

An oil sheen that coated 8 miles of the Potomac River at its peak and killed 21 birds has been linked to a coolant leak at a Dominion Virginia Power facility, officials said on Friday.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer David Marin said a lab confirmed that samples of the sheen taken in Roaches Run off the Potomac matched samples from an oil leak at Dominion’s Crystal City Substation located near a storm drain.'

Dominion spokesman Rob Richardson confirmed last week that 13,000 gallons of mineral oil spilled Jan. 24 from a transformer at a power substation in Crystal City, not far from Roaches Run. He said at the time that there was “no evidence” that that spill was related to the sheen in the Potomac.

On Friday, after initially saying Dominion would accept responsibliity if its own testing confirmed the Coast Guard findings, Richardson later emailed: We concur with their findings that the substance was transformer mineral oil and we accept responsibility.....We will move with all due haste to work with the agencies to ensure the remaining cleanup work is done."

The Mystery Mess on the Potomac

This has been brewing a few days now, and they don't seem Much closer to discovering where it came from than when in appeared in the wake of El Ninsnowmageddocalypse: Oil sheen on Potomac near DC under investigation

Oily liquid continued to ooze Sunday into a waterfowl pond along the Potomac River as investigators searched for a source in a Washington, D.C. area storm drain.

While the rainbow-colored sheen seen late last week along an eight-mile stretch of the river has dissipated, investigators Sunday morning spotted more oil coming from an outfall emptying into Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, according to Lt. David Ruhlig, U.S. Coast Guard operations section chief overseeing response to the incident.

Booms were strung across the outfall to capture the oil, augmenting containment measures put in Roaches Run Friday.

“This allowed us to keep any further sheen from entering the Potomac from Roaches Run, and our hope is that it will help us to rule out other avenues of entry.” Ruhlig said in a statement released Sunday afternoon. The Coast Guard is coordinating the efforts of federal, state and local authorities dealing with the contamination.

Another 11 geese appear to have been affected by the oily sheen, in addition to 19 oiled geese and a duck recovered since Friday, according to the statement. A nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation service, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research of Newark, DE, is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to capture the geese.

The Coast Guard is working with Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality and Arlington County to try tracing the discharge up through the storm drain network.

I don't think this is a serious oil spill, like the spill into the Patuxent was a few years ago, but it's very odd they can't seem to find where it originated.

Wind Power Leads to Ocean Oil Spill

Irony alert – wind turbine involved in petroleum spill at sea

A ship is leaking diesel after crashing into a wind turbine off the coast of Morecambe Bay.

Liverpool Coastguard has been in attendance since just after 9am this morning co-ordinating the recovery of the stricken vessel which collided with part of a turbine at Walney Wind Farm.

OMS Pollux has since been leaking marine gas oil, or diesel.

The Danish-registered vessel, with a crew of around 18 on board, remains afloat and there are no reported injuries.

Looking at the size of those things, it sort of makes you wonder how a ship managed to hit it, but then when you consider all the other kinds of things ships have struck down through history, I guess everything that can happen will happen if you wait around long enough.