Tank and Petroleum Use Mishaps The Steel Tank Institute is unable to guarantee the accuracy of any information. Every effort has been undertaken to ensure the accuracy of information contained in this publication but it is not intended to be comprehensive or to render advice. Websites may be current at the time of release, however may become inaccessible. The newsletter may be copied and distributed subject to: • All text being copied without modification • Containing the copyright notice or any other notice provided therein • Not distributed for profit By learning about the misfortunes of others, it is STI's hope to educate the public by creating a greater awareness of the hazards with storage and use of petroleum and chemicals. Please refer to the many industry standards and to the fire and building codes for further guidance on the safe operating practices with hazardous liquids. Thanks and credit for content are given to Dangerous Goods-Hazmat Group Network. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DangerousGoods/ USA, WI, MILWAUKEE DECEMBER 30 2006. BREACH FOUND IN GAS PIPE AT FALK CORP. Investigators have discovered a crack in a propane pipe near the scene of the explosion at the Falk Corporation earlier this month. A pipe believed to have been involved in the explosion was tested Thursday by passing nitrogen gas through it. Milwaukee's District Attorney E. Michael McCann told 12 News those tests revealed a crack in that propane pipe, but said it's too soon to tell what role that crack may have had in the explosion. "Why it was leaking, was it known there was a lead, what's the history of that pipe, who knew about the history, was there grouinds, is there anything that happened that would have damaged that pipe, did people know that that pipe might be damaged," McCann said. McCann says investigators expect to learn more when they excavate the area in the next couple of weeks. The actual source of the leak, as well as what ignited it, is still under investigation. Three Falk employees died when propane gas exploded at the Falk plant near 30th and Canal streets in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley on Dec. 8. The District Attorney, the Milwaukee Police Department, the Occupationaal Safety and Health Administration are all investigating, as well as the law firm hired by the families of the three men killed in the blast. http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/10632006/detail.html USA, OH, IRONTON DECEMBER 31 2006. JUDGE ORDERS CLEANUP OF FORMER ETHANOL PLANT A judge has given the owner of a Kentucky-based biofuel company until May 30 to clean up its industrial site along U.S. 52 in southeast Ohio. Biomass Energy and owner Mark Harris, of Nicholasville, Ky., bought the 80-acre site from South Point Ethanol in 1999 with the intention of building an electricity generating plant, according to court documents. There had been an ethanol plant on the site, which included a number of abandoned buildings, a concrete bunker containing coal waste and other industrial debris. Over the years, there had been numerous complaints that the site, visible from the highway between Ironton and Huntington, W.Va., was an eyesore and could develop into a source of drinking water pollution. Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge Frank McCown set a cleanup schedule Wednesday in a hearing with Harris and representatives from the Environmental Enforcement Section of Attorney General Jim Petro's office. The agreement gave Harris 21 days to secure a bond to fund the removal of coal and coke waste, and gave him until May 30 to complete the removal. "I want it to be sparkling clean like your granny's kitchen," the judge said. "If there is anything up there fines will be levied to the maximum level." 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288 1 Tank and Petroleum Use Mishaps A message was left seeking comment from Harris at his Biomass office. McCown ordered that no scrap materials be removed from buildings until the money for the project is approved. The company also must turn over its financial records to the state within two weeks and repair structural deficiencies to the concrete bunker where waste is stored. McCown said there had been reports of asbestos buried on the site, and questioned why the Ohio EPA had not taken water and soil samples. Clint Shuff, an EPA inspector, said he and investigators from attorney general's office found no evidence of asbestos burial. Petro's office filed a contempt-of-court lawsuit last month alleging that Harris failed to comply with a court-ordered cleanup. Biomass was sued by the attorney general's office in 2004 and forced to pay $26,000 for improper storage and slow removal of more than 10,000 tons of tobacco at the site. At that time, the company agreed to remove all the coal and coke products within a year and a half. When it acquired the site, Biomass had plans for a $150 million renovation of the former ethanol plant that would have allowed it to operate a wood-fired plant that could generate enough electricity to supply 150,000 to 200,000 households. http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/16346710.htm USA, KS, BRAZILTON DECEMBER 3 2007. POLICE LOOKING FOR VANDALS AFTER OIL SPILL Law officers in southeast Kansas are looking for vandals who opened valves on oil storage tanks, causing a 200-barrel spill. Crawford County deputies say the spilled oil ran onto a road near Brazilton, then flowed into a ditch and found its way into a creek. State health and environmental officials were called to the scene Saturday to supervise the cleanup. Two-hundred barrels contain about 84-hundred gallons of oil. Deputies say locks on the valves were damaged and removed, allowing the oil to spill. The tanks are owned by N and W Enterprises of Fort Scott. http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/5060171.html USA, MO, KANSAS CITY JANUARY 6 2007. REPUBLIC GAS TANK FIRE HAS FORTUNATE ENDING – ALL WORKERS ESCAPE UNHARMED AFTER SPARKS IGNITE FUEL. Wes Johnson Workers using cutting torches inside an empty 1.5-million-gallon gasoline storage tank accidentally ignited a small pocket of undetected fuel Wednesday afternoon. All three workers escaped from the Magellan Pipeline Co. storage tank, but then went back in and extinguished most of the blaze with dry-chemical fire extinguishers. "That's the main thing, that everyone got out without any physical damage," said Magellan spokesman Richard Louderback. Republic Fire Chief Duane Compton said he feared the worst when his crews rolled up to the facility. He saw black smoke pouring from the top of one of the huge white fuel-storage tanks. "They've got about 12 million gallons of gasoline and diesel stored out there," Compton said. "When we saw that smoke coming out the top of one of those tanks we immediately started calling for mutual aid. "Things could have gone south in a real hurry." The workers' cutting torches ignited a small pocket of unleaded gasoline, which in turn ignited a secondary fire in the rubber sealing ring around the edge of the internal floating roof. When the tank is being used, the internal floating roof sits directly on the fuel and helps keep explosive fumes from building up inside. Compton said one of the workers told him that he exited the tank for good when the soles of his shoes began melting on the floating roof. Republic firefighters quickly cooled down the internal roof with water and extinguished the fire burning in the rubber seal. 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288 2 Tank and Petroleum Use Mishaps "We were very lucky today," Compton said. Fire departments from Springfield, West Republic, Billings, Battlefield and Brookline sent trucks and crews to the scene. http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS01/701040398/1007 USA, OHIO, MARIETTA JANUARY 6 2007. AGENCY TO INVESTIGATE FUEL LEAKS AT STATIONS Sam Shawver Speedway/SuperAmerica locations on Second and Seventh streets in Marietta are being investigated for apparent fuel leaks from their underground storage tanks. Groundwater monitoring wells are being drilled in the city right of way near the Speedway store at 433 Second St., according to a letter to the city’s engineering department from Keith A. Hughes, advanced environmental representative with Speedway SuperAmerica LLC in Springfield. “There was a confirmed release of gas and diesel at that location that was above the baseline level at which we’re required to take action,” Shane Cartmill, spokesman for the Ohio Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulation (BUSTR), said on Thursday. “The Second Street location is in the Tier 1 phase at this time, boring monitoring wells to determine how bad the leak is affecting the groundwater,” he explained. “A report is due to us in the first part of February,” Cartmill said. “Then we will move into Tier 2, considering possible health risks to people and animals, and we’ll determine how to proceed from there.” He emphasized that, according to reports filed with BUSTR, no one is being exposed to harmful chemicals at either of the Speedway locations at this time. Cartmill said a similar incident was reported when fuel tanks were installed at the Second Street location in 1989, but in 2003 the area was designated for “no further action” by BUSTR. The latest release was discovered in 2005 while dispenser islands were being replaced at the facility. “Our rules require soil samples to be taken to ensure contamination hasn’t escaped to the environment, and in this case we found that it had,” Cartmill said.