Sulfur flare, diesel spills: Here’s 9 hazardous incidents reported in Madison Co. recently
Marathon Pipe Line reported cleanup efforts were ongoing as of Sunday at the site of the Edwardsville oil spill. In a press release, the company said crews were still working along the Cahokia division channel, and the boom will remain in place until the cleanup is complete.
Crews have continued working through rain, and conditions will be monitored for the safety of response teams, the public and the environment, the company reported.
The public is still asked to steer clear of the area until a full recovery has been made.
As of Sunday morning, wildlife affected by the spill were still being treated and the area was being monitored 24 hours per day. Audible deterrent is still being used to deter additional animals from entering the recovery zone.
The incident in Edwardsville March 11 caused about 163,800 gallons of oil to spill. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency provided the News-Democrat with information regarding nine recent Madison County incidents (including the Edwardsville spill), all occurring in the past three months.
Here’s what we learned about the most recent incidents.
What substances have been recently spilled?
Crude oil, diesel fuel, liquid gasoline, gear oil, engine oil, hydraulic fluid and sulfur dioxide were each released in at least one of the incidents.
How much has been spilled? When have spills occurred in Madison County?
The Edwardsville crude oil incident happened March 11. Initial estimates said 3,000 barrels were spilled. Marathon Pipe Line was responsible, and the company is being sued by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who said the spill was caused by an equipment failure. Raoul cited reports from Marathon when describing the cause of the spill.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency accepts incident reports for events suspected to involve hazardous materials. Initial reports include as much information as the person reporting them can provide, so it is not uncommon for multiple reports to be made about a single incident.
Incident reports may include the type of container, materials spilled, location and responsible party, among other details. “Responsible parties” listed below are identified as such by the IEMA.
Traci Burton, paralegal assistant for the IEMA, provided these eight reports identified as “similar” in nature to the Edwardsville spill.
March 7 in Hartford, one pint of diesel fuel spilled as a result of a possible cracked line when it was being pumped in a boat. American Commercial Barge Line was responsible.
In Alton, an unknown amount of liquid gasoline was spilled Feb. 23. ND Investment Co. was listed as the responsible party.
A broken oil line on a truck engine caused three gallons of engine oil to spill Feb. 16 in Granite City.
Jan. 21, it was reported a unit upset caused more than 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide to be released from a flare stack in Roxana. Philips 66 Wood River Refinery was responsible for the flaring event.
Republic Systems was responsible for a garbage truck hydraulic system in Maryville leaking fewer than 40 gallons of hydraulic fluid Jan. 17 as a result of line failure.
Philips 66 Wood River Refinery was also responsible for a sulfur dioxide incident reported Jan. 7, when more than 500 pounds of reportable quantities was released. The incident report noted the compressor would be restarted, which should result in a lesser release than initially reportable. The release was caused by the compressor being tripped, causing a process upset.
One quart of gear oil and an unknown amount of diesel fuel spilled from a railcar Dec. 27 in Worden. The possible cause of release listed in the report was that the railcar may have struck debris in the right of way.
A spill involving an unknown amount of liquid gasoline was reported Dec. 30. The spill came from an underground storage tank in Granite City, for which Herman Williams was named as the responsible party.
How can you find more incident reports?
Additional hazardous incident reports can be accessed online from the Illinois Emergency Management Association.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 9:31 AM.
