Pipeline spill near Huntersville was four times worse than estimated, NC senator says
Far more gasoline spilled into the soil and shallow groundwater from an underground Colonial Pipeline Co. pipe near Huntersville than Colonial originally estimated, N.C. Sen. Natasha Marcus said Monday, citing a revised report from the company.
Colonial is expected to file a report with a federal agency showing that 272,580 gallons spilled in August, Marcus posted on Facebook early Monday. She called the revised number “a huge increase.”
The new number is more than four times the company’s original estimate.
“This leak is MUCH more serious than the 63,000 gallons originally reported,” Marcus posted.
And the company may need to revise its numbers yet again as work to recover the gasoline continues and workers find even more petroleum, she said.
The company also reported the new total in an online update Sunday night.
Marcus said the company’s report also will indicate that only half of what spilled has been recovered.
The latest revised numbers are still an estimate, Marcus said, “based on additional data that Colonial has obtained and analyzed over the course of the last several weeks.”
The spill occurred Aug. 14 where the pipeline crosses Mecklenburg County’s 142-acre Oehler Nature Preserve at 14511 Huntersville-Concord Road, east of Huntersville, the county said.
As of Saturday, according to the company, no petroleum compounds have been found in residential water wells and surface water samples. Colonial says it has installed 47 monitoring wells and 30 recovery wells.
According to the company, Colonial pipes gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries primarily located on the Gulf Coast, with customers throughout the South and East, through more than 5,500 miles of pipeline.
The spill near Huntersville came to light when two ATV riders saw liquid on the ground and smelled gasoline, according to the company.
The spill was reported off Huntersville-Concord Road between Lawther Road and Asbury Chapel Road.
Colonial said it shut down the pipeline “in a matter of minutes and crews were dispatched to the site. The pipeline was repaired as of 6 p.m. August 19.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 8:51 AM.