07/30/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
Boston, MA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced via press release Thursday, July 29, 2010 that the owner and operator of a gas station in Milford, New Hampshire, agreed to pay $49,000 in order to settle EPA claims that federal Clean Water laws regulating oil spill preparedness were violated.
According to the EPA press release, Draper Energy, which owned the Snack Corner Mobil Station, and its operator, Energy North Inc., failed to prepare a spill prevention plan. Furthermore, the two illegally discharged diesel fuel.
The Mobil Station experienced a leak on March 5, 2009. The leak allowed approximately 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel to discharge into the Souhegan River.
The spill was the result of a break in a pipe connecting an above-ground storage tank containing the diesel to a pump. The alarm failed to alert anyone of the discharge as oil flowed into the soil beneath the pump. The oil then seeped into a granite culvert that runs beneath the facility and then discharged into the nearby Souhegan River. The Souhegan connects to the Merrimack River, which leads to the Atlantic Ocean.
Because of the alarm failure, the oil leaked for three days before neighboring business noticed a strong smell and oil sheen on the water of the Souhegan River. Only after the spill was noticed did an emergency response happen, which was executed by the local fire department, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and EPA. Both Draper and Energy North cooperated with the organizations to clean the spill.
Since the spill, the facility has been cleaned and the above-ground storage tanks have been removed.
The EPA’s oil spill prevention regulations require specific preventative measures for companies that store more than 1,320 gallons of oil that could reach a waterway if spilled. The regulations were put into place to ensure that tank failures or accidental spills do not lead to contamination of surface waters.
According to Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office, “This situation was an unfortunate illustration of the damage that oil spills can do to our environment. It’s much smarter and less expensive to prevent oil spills before they occur.”
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