Federal Regulators Investigate Colonial Pipeline Leak
Between 252,000 and 336,000 gallons of gasoline may have leaked
Tanker trucks line up at a Colonial Pipeline Co. facility in Pelham, Ala., near the scene of a gasoline spill on Friday. PHOTO: JAY REEVES/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Federal regulators are investigating the cause of a pipeline leak that spilled as much as 8,000 barrels of gasoline south of Birmingham, Ala.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said Friday the cause of the leak from Colonial Pipeline Co.’s Line 1 is still unknown, since the pipeline hasn’t yet been excavated.
The agency, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said it would require Colonial to submit a restart plan and fulfill several requirements before allowing the pipeline to start up again.
“PHMSA had a team of investigators on site as quickly as possible to investigate the cause of this leak and took important safety measures to prevent additional damage to the environment and the communities impacted and to ensure the integrity of the pipeline before it returns to operation,” the agency said.
A spokesman for Colonial said the company was reviewing PHMSA’s order.
“We share PHMSA’s focus on safety and commitment to ensuring the integrity of the pipeline before it is restarted,” he said.
A mining inspector first alerted Colonial to the leak from the 1960s-era pipeline on Sept. 9 after smelling a gasoline odor on a mining property, the company has said.
Colonial previously estimated about 6,000 barrels of gasoline had spilled but said Friday that it could be as much as 8,000 barrels. That would put the spill between 252,000 and 336,000 gallons of gasoline.
The line has been partially closed since the leak was reported, which has choked off fuel supplies to parts of the Southeast and led to higher gasoline prices.
Colonial said Friday it expects to continue working to repair the pipeline this weekend and to restart it some time next week. Repairs have been delayed by benzene and gasoline vapors that prevented responders from working safely throughout much of this week.
According to PHMSA, the company is monitoring air quality in the area and has said that Alabaster, a town about 3 miles from the leak site, isn’t currently at risk from the vapors.
Gasoline from the pipeline was discovered in a nearby mine retention pond, and three dead raccoons and a dead rabbit were found nearby. Later, the company found that gasoline had flowed from that pond to another nearby pond through a culvert, according to federal pipeline regulators.
As of Thursday morning, Colonial said it had recovered more than 1,300 barrels of gasoline from one of the ponds and hadn’t yet estimated how much gasoline reached the second pond, according to federal regulators.
