Marathon ends updates on Edwardsville spill, provides scant details on recovery
Marathon Pipe Line announced Friday it would stop providing regular updates about cleanup of the 3,900-barrel Edwardsville oil spill that occurred March 11, although “remediation and restoration work” continues.
The last update prior to the announcement was posted April 5.
Marathon provides few details about cleanup
In Friday’s brief post, the company said “response work has moved to a project management phase.”
“Throughout the response phase, the focus of the Edwardsville Response has been to ensure the safety of responders and the community, and to limit environmental impact,” it continues.
With few details on the ongoing status of the cleanup and environmental effects, the News-Democrat asked Marathon the following:
- How many cubic yards of oily soil have been removed so far? Is oily soil still being recovered?
- Is there a wildlife response update since the April 5 report?
- Is the site still being monitored 24 hours per day?
- Is audible deterrent still being used to discourage animals from entering the site? (Audible deterrent is sound used to make it undesirable for animals to be in an area.)
- Is the public still asked to steer clear of the cleanup area?
- As the cleanup is in the “project management” phase, when do crews expect to conclude recovery efforts?
- Is boom still in place?
The company responded to the News-Democrat after two emails and one voicemail, saying crews were still working in affected areas in the Cahokia diversion channel and Old Alton Edwardsville Road. The spokesperson, Joe Gannon, also said there had been no additional wildlife affected by the spill since March 29.
Marathon reported 41 animals had been affected by the spill, including 26 wildlife fatalities. No human injuries or fatalities were reported.
The company did not address the questions about how much oily soil has been recovered, whether the site is still being monitored around the clock, if audible deterrent is still being used, whether the public is still asked to avoid the site, if the boom is still in place and when crews expect to finish cleanup.
What have oversight and watchdog groups said about Marathon?
A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board said previous inspections found pipeline movement, erosion and soil caving. The investigation is ongoing.
The Pipeline Safety Trust is a nonprofit organization that advocates for environmental safety and regulation. Executive Director Bill Caram said it was unusual Marathon officials actually knew about the pipeline movement.
“The technology to learn about the position of your pipeline is not widely used in the industry. It’s not required in the regulation, and so it’s actually impressive that Marathon had collected this level of information,” Caram said in an April 14 interview with the News-Democrat. “But of course, ultimately the most important step is acting on that information before a spill happens.”
Caram said because of the flat nature of the location of the spill, it’s not standard to track pipeline movement. It’s more common to track such movement in sloped areas.
The most likely reason movement was tracked is Marathon is a leader in technology around pipeline safety in the industry, Caram said. He also noted it is typical for pipeline companies to go a few years between inspections.
The state’s attorney general announced March 18 the state filed a lawsuit against the company over the Edwardsville spill. The Illinois Attorney General has sued Marathon twice in the last five years regarding other incidents.
Prescriptive regulations do not require pipeline companies to fix the issues found in the Marathon inspection, Caram said, although the Pipeline Safety Trust would like to see federal oversight groups implement such requirements.
There is a performance-based regulation called “integrity management” that applies to high-consequence areas, and Cahokia Creek would qualify as such an area, Caram said.
“Operators are asked to look at any risk that could cause a failure on their pipeline that would impact that high-consequence area and mitigate against that,” Caram said.
Integrity management rules were disseminated by the governmental agency Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. One requirement to pipeline operators reads: “Repairing pipeline defects identified through the integrated analysis of the assessment results.”
More information about current governmental regulation of oil pipelines is available online.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 1:16 PM.
