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The Daily Tar Heel

Chapel Hill gas station cited for gas spill

Reconstruction of the Family Fare BP on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Reconstruction of the Family Fare BP on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

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.

Two environmental groups hired to help with the cleanup have 30 days after receiving the notice of violation to respond.

Romanski said she observed one dead fish during her field work at the site.

Responsive and timely

The Chapel Hill Fire and Police Departments were praised for the quick response to the spill by state officials.

The fire department worked quickly to alert the Public Works Division and began constructing an underflow dam, which allows water to flow under while capturing gasoline on the surface of the dam.

“They coordinated with other departments in the city really well to establish proper containment and minimize the impact,” Rhame said.

A CHPD officer first arrived on the scene and shut off the pump, Romanski said, and his quick response stopped the gas from spilling into creeks three hours after the leak began.

“That certainly went a long way to prevent things from being worse than they were,” Romanski said.

city@dailytarheel.com

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