Crews continue to work on Salt Lake City oil spillBy Mike Gorrell And Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 06/13/2010 02:50:58 PM MDT
Chevron cleanup crews were busy Sunday skimming oil... (Scott Sommerdorf / Salt Lake Tribune)
Gordon Cowlishaw first noticed oil in the Jordan River on Salt Lake City's west side at 8 a.m. Saturday morning.
"It's kind of disheartening," said the 49-year-old laid off, hard-rock miner while walking Sunday morning along the Jordan River Parkway trail, adjacent to the river. He has lived near the waterway most of his life and walks daily along its flow.
Standing at an abandoned train trestle where 900 South dead ends, and Salt Lake City's Glendale and Poplar Grove neighborhoods meet, Cowlishaw just shook his head as a continuous rainbow sheen flowed atop the river, adhering in places to weeds along its banks.
"This is where I learned how to swim" he said.
A break in an underground Chevron oil pipeline this weekend just south of Red Butte Gardens, near the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, leaked oil into Red Butte Creek. The leak initially was about 50 gallons of oil a minute and was detected Saturday morning. An estimated 21,000 gallons leaked. The pipeline was shut down by 8 a.m. Saturday, Chevron said.
By then, the creek and its banks were contaminated with black oil, which flowed into the pond at Liberty Park, killing fish along the way and soiling birds and other wildlife. The spill continued to flow through underground culverts to outflows in the Jordan River.
Chevron officials said Sunday morning that oil has not been found farther than 600 North, assuaging concerns that it has already reached the Great Salt Lake, said Galen Williams, a spokesman for Chevron consultant Earth Fax.
Fred Fife, a former state lawmaker who lives near the Jordan River, said he saw mallards on the river and on the banks that appeared to be affected by the oil. Nevertheless, he expressed optimism.
"All is not lost," he said. "We'll be able to enjoy the river and over a period of time it will be back to what we've come to love and respect. I just feel sad for the loss and damage to the wildlife that's on the river and hope that will be restored as well."
Cowlishaw said he has seen beaver and trout in the Jordan River. He is disappointed in the response to the oil spill. "I just don't think they responded quick enough," he said Sunday. "Hopefully, it won't kill everything."
Chevron has about 60 people working on the pipeline break and spill, including employees and contractors. Company officials from Houston and the San Francisco area had arrived in Salt Lake City by Sunday morning.
Representatives from the Salt Lake City Fire Department, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency also were on the scene Sunday at Liberty Park and other affected areas.
The park was closed Saturday, but the northern section reopened Sunday morning to accommodate frequent visitors: joggers and drum circles. The southern part of the park remains cordoned off as crews continue to clean up oil and keep birds off the pond. The smell of oil lingered in the air Sunday.
Joggers said the fumes impacted their breathing, but not enough to keep them away. "It's like running in heavy traffic," Claudia Wilson said.
Tracy Aviary opened Sunday, but has not had many visitors. Crews at the aviary were forced to move some birds because oil-coated mallards contaminated aviary birds. Other birds were transported from their displays on the southeast side of the aviary because of high levels of benzine in the air.
Aviary director Tim Brown said some HazMat crew members became nauseated from the fumes and employee Justin Perry said fumes caused him to lose his voice.
The city is urging residents to stay away from the contaminated area and from Red Butte Creek. Most of the oil has been contained to the southwest corner of the park pond and is being siphoned into an EnviroCare tanker, officials said.
Officials don't know the cause of the leak, but Chevron spokesman Dan Johnson said they're pursuing a theory that it could be related to a power surge from an above-ground electrical unit in the area of the pipe. Johnson said officials would launch an investigation Sunday.
