The owner of a Chapel Hill gas station and a contractor were cited this week by state officials for involvement in a gas spill that contaminated 1.6 miles of creeks and streams.
Danny Smith, the regional supervisor for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, issued a notice of violation to the owner of a BP gas station at 1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and William Bishop, a contractor hired to do maintenance work at the station, after a submersible pump channeled gasoline into Chapel Hill creeks through a storm drain.
The contractor excavated a hole to install footings at the gas station that would extend the station’s awning. During this summer’s storms, the workers had to set up a submersible pump to pipe water out of the excavated areas.
But after a piece of concrete punctured the station’s nearby gas tank on Aug. 2, the submersible pump began to pipe gasoline into nearby waterways, said Ken Rhame, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency coordinator who helped with the spill’s cleanup.
The owner and contractor face up to $25,000 in penalties for violating state environmental regulations.
One dead fish
The tank might have contained up to 3,000 gallons of gas, according to Smith’s letter.
The gas made its way into Crow Branch Creek, Booker Creek and an unnamed tributary that leads into Crow Branch Creek, said Autumn Romanski, an environmental specialist for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Officials still don’t know how many gallons went into the creeks, Romanski said, but her department has requested information from the stationowner in its violation notice.