a decade of petroleum company disaster, pollution, and profit€¦ · a decade of petroleum company...

ReportC O N F R O N T I N G G L O B A L W A R M I N G

Tom

Gill

ASSAULT ON AMERICA: A Decade of Petroleum Company Disaster,Pollution, and Profit

N A T I O N A L W I L D L I F E F E D E R A T I O N 2 0 1 0

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The BP catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, with its tragic loss of life

and devastating impact on the Gulf Coast economy, has brought the

risk and high cost of oil development to the public’s attention.

Predictably a round of oil industry executives have testified before

Congress offering countless apologies and empty assurances that

such an incident will never happen again. The oil industry is running

ads asserting that this is an exceptional ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ event

for an otherwise safe and responsible industry. But this is the fourth

major oil spill in 33 years in North America after the following: in

1977, Hawaiian Patriot spewed over 30 million gallons of oil 300

miles off the coast of Hawaii; in the Gulf of Mexico, Ixtoc 1 spilled

over 140 million gallons of oil in 1979; and Exxon Valdez was

responsible for dumping over 11 million gallons of oil into the Prince

William Sound of Alaska in 1989.

Major oil spills are really only a small part of the real story. From

2000 to 2010, the oil and gas industry accounted for hundreds of

deaths, explosions, fires, seeps, and spills as well as habitat and

wildlife destruction in the United States. These disasters

demonstrate a pattern of feeding America’s addiction to oil, leaving

in their wake sacrifice zones that affect communities, local

economies, and our landscapes.

The BP Deepwater Horizon event is the largest and potentially most

devastating environmental disaster the oil and gas industry has yet

to foist on Americans. However, the frequency and recurrence of

these events bears closer scrutiny. Incidents occur on a monthly

and, sometimes, daily basis across the country but sadly only a

portion of these make the front page or evening news.

This report provides a sampling of the oil and gas industry’s

performance over the past 10 years —– the first decade of the new

millennium. These ‘lowlights’ and examples from each year shed light

on how the oil and gas industry has continued to show negligence

and experience accidents all over the country. While not exhaustive,

the listing offers a cross-section of spills, leaks, fires, explosions,

toxic emissions, water pollution, and more that occurred in the last

decade —– the post- Exxon Valdez era, the post- Oil Pollution Act of

1990 era, when the industry said “we’ve got it under control.”

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This was supposed to be the era of“never again,” the refrain often heardfollowing a major tanker spill, refineryexplosion, or pipeline leak. We were toldthat spill prevention plans, better safetyprocedures, and improved technology,would help eliminate spills, fires,explosions, leaks and seeps. Yes, thiswas supposed to be the era of no moreleaky river barges, no more oil refinerysmog, no more worker deaths andinjuries, no more well blow-outs, and nomore underground tank farm plumes orgas station oil seepage into

groundwater or beneath neighboringcommunities. Yet we have had all of thatand more in the last decade.

The stories that follow show thattoday’s oil and gas industry threatensAmericans in countless ways. Thisindustry continues to knowinglyendanger its own workers, theenvironment, wildlife, and ourcommunities in states across the nation.

The total cost of the status quo —– inlives lost and health risks as well associal and environmental degradation —–is far too high.

The negative consequences for ourhealth, our land, our climate and ourchildren’s future are too great tocontinue to depend on oil to power oureconomy. Now is the time to enact lawsthat favor and encourage safe and cleanenergy development and removefederal subsidies and tax advantages foroil and gas development. Now is thetime to increase mitigation fees. Now isthe time to create an oil and gasdisaster fund paid for by industry. Now is the time to determineenvironmentally sensitive areas thatshould be permanently off limits to oiland gas development.

And now is the time to cap globalwarming pollution from all oil and gasproduction —– including every aspect ofthe extraction and refining processeswhere methane, carbon dioxide, andother global warming gases arereleased into the air every day.

The BP Deepwater Horizon spill istruly a tragedy of our time. It should beused to take a closer and morecomprehensive look at the full andcontinuing costs that the oil and gasindustry continues to impose on societywith its pollution, environmentaldegradation, habitat destruction,wildlife loss, worker and communityendangerment, health effectsconsequences, and loss of life.

QUICK & DIRTY FACTS

! PROFITS: While most of the world was hithard by the economic downturn, the top10 petroleum refining companies in theworld reported $2.8 trillion in revenueand $150 billion in profit during 2009.i

! LOBBYING: With their stockpile of cash,oil and gas companies have spent $38million lobbying Congress in 2010 so thatthey can continue business as usual:Making billions of dollars, cutting back onsafety and pollution standards, andblocking the gateway for a new, cleanenergy economy. ConocoPhillips, BP,Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp, and RoyalDutch Shell have contributed $18.74million of that total.ii The AmericanPetroleum Institute, the trade association that represents oil and gasindustries, spent $7.3 million in 2009iii and $3.6 million so far in 2010iv

in lobbying expenditures. Direct political contributions from the oil andgas industry to members of Congress have accounted for another$13.9 million already this year.v

! OFFSHORE: The U.S. Mineral Management Service (now Bureau ofOcean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement) determinedthat 1,443 incidents occurred in the Outer Continental Shelf watersfrom 2001 – 2007. Of these incidents, 41 fatalities, 302 injuries, 476fires, and 356 pollution events were reported.vi

! ONSHORE: From 2000 – 2009, pipeline accidents accounted for2,554 significant incidents, 161 fatalities, and 576 injuries in theUnited States.vii

See these incidents mapped across the U.S. on pages 16 - 17

Rank State Significant Incidents Fatalities Injuries

1 Texas 523 15 60

2 Louisiana 223 6 18

3 California 177 9 24

4 Kansas 117 3 18

5 Illinois 115 2 28

6 Pennsylvania 114 10 33

7 Oklahoma 113 3 8

8 Ohio 74 6 12

9 Michigan 61 5 26

10 New Mexico 58 15 17

THE TOP 10 STATES FOR PIPELINE ACCIDENTS

The Heady, Smith and Sumler families(seven adults, three children, and twoinfants) headed out to Carlsbad, NewMexico for some weekend camping onthe evening of Friday August 18th,2000. When they arrived at theircamping area along the Pecos Riverthey unknowingly chose a spot wherea buried natural gas pipeline lay. Infact, they had driven their pick-uptrucks and other vehicles unwittinglyacross the buried pipeline for miles inorder to reach their campsite.

At about 5:30 a.m. the nextmorning, still in darkness, the buried30-inch diameter El Paso Natural Gaspipeline violently ruptured and

exploded beneath their campsite,shooting an enormous fireball 500feet into the air, visible for miles. Themassive explosion was so powerfulthat it registered with seismicmonitoring instruments somedistance away. The fire following theexplosion burned for nearly an hourbefore firefighters could reach thefire and put it under control.

Firefighters came from severalnearby towns including Carlsbad,Otis, Joel, and Loving in order to fightthe massive blaze. A few fire trucksmoved within a half-mile of the firebut, even at that distance, the fireraged so strongly that the trucks hadto retreat. “We saw it was going tomelt the paint off our trucks,”1 saidone firefighter. Upon arriving at thegasline explosion, the firefighterswere initially unaware that campershad been at the site. After the gasfrom the pipeline was turned off and

the flames were tamed, thefirefighters thought they were readyto go home after extinguishing a fewscattered grass fires. But that’s whenthey heard the screams from thedirection of the river.

Hearing the eerie cries for help,firefighters and emergency crews ranacross several hundred yards of rockydesert carrying their medical gear. Inthe river bed they found six survivorswho had escaped 300 yardsdownstream of the flames but,according to witnesses, were“hideously burned” and “looked likemummies.”1 One of the survivors,young mother Amy Heady, was lying

next to her husband, Royle, aged 20.Amy told medics that she wanted tosee her babies. Her husband raisedhis head, looked sadly into her eyes,and told her that they were all dead.Back at the explosion site, firefighterslater found the bodies of three youngchildren with the residue of a playpenmelted all around them. The explosionand raging fire would eventually takethe lives of all 12 of the campers.

The National Transportation SafetyBoard later determined that theprobable cause of the pipelineexplosion and fire was “a significantreduction in pipe wall thickness dueto severe internal corrosion.” Thissevere corrosion occurred, accordingto the NTSB, because El Paso NaturalGas Company’s corrosion controlprogram “failed to prevent, detect, orcontrol” internal corrosion within thepipeline. Contributing to the accident,said the NTSB, were “ineffectiveFederal pre-accidentinspections...that did not identifydeficiencies in the company’s internalcorrosion control program.”2 In otherwords, negligence and regulatorynon-compliance were the root causeof this horrific accident.

In the U.S. today, there are nearly500,000 miles of oil and gastransmission pipelines that crisscrossthe country. These lines often carryhazardous materials with thepotential to cause public injury andenvironmental damage in rural andurban areas. According to aninvestigation in the Austin American-Statesman, from 1984 – 2000pipeline related fatalities occurred inmore than 40 states.

“Campers Killed in Blast” Gas Pipeline: New Mexico

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The fire raged so strongly that the trucks had toretreat. ‘We saw it was going to melt the paint offour trucks.’

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January 27 PIPELINE RUPTURES, CAUSESLARGE SPILLA pipeline owned by Marathon-Ashland,ruptured near Winchester, Kentuckyspilling nearly 500,000 gallons ofcrude oil. The 24-inch pipeline, whichtravels 265 miles between Owensboroand Catlettsburg, Kentucky, spilled andleaked into Two-mile Creek and onto agolf course. While no injuries or deathsresulted, Marathon-Ashland spent over$7.1 million responding to the accident.The probable cause of the accident,reported by the U.S. NationalTransportation Safety Board, wasfatigue cracking in the line due to adent in the pipe that produced highlevels of stress in the pipe wall.Contributing to the severity of theaccident was the failure of thecontroller and supervisors to recognizeand isolate the rupture, as well as shutdown the pipeline in a timely manner.3

March 22WORKERS BURNED IN FLASH FIREA flash fire at Tosco Corp.’s Avon,California oil refinery burned twoworkers after gasoline infiltrated therefinery’s fire-fighting water supply.Routinely, when welders work insiderefineries their sparks are doused withrefinery water as a precaution. But onthis day, two men working on

scaffolding were burned as the waterspray used to douse their weldingsparks was gasoline, not water. NealJones, 45, working on scaffolding twostories off the ground, was blown offhis feet and sent flying to a smallerplatform five feet below. He landed onhis left arm, crushing his wrist, but layon the platform close to the fire. As thefire burned, he could feel its heat andpushed himself away, sliding down thescaffolding with one arm to the ground.Later, after Jones had been rescuedand treated, he was dumbfounded tolearn that gasoline had permeated thefire fighting water system at therefinery. The incident raised seriousquestions about Tosco’s operation atthe Avon location and elsewhere.

April PIPE SPILLS INTO RIVER, KILLSWILDLIFE & HABITATAn oil pipeline supplying the PotomacElectric Power Company’s Chalk Pointpower plant in Calvert County,Maryland ruptured releasing 129,000gallons of fuel oil into the SwansonCreek Marsh. The pipeline stretchesalong Maryland’s Patuxent River shorefor over 50 miles. During the cleanup, astorm with high winds swept oil overcontainment booms along the PatuxentRiver. Nearly 17 miles of the river’sshoreline and wetlands were affected.

The spill killed at least 553 ruddy ducks,376 muskrats, 143 assorted birds and122 diamondback terrapins; reducedturtle hatchlings by 10 percent; andcaused the loss of thousands of poundsof fish and shellfish. Federalinvestigators concluded the ruptureoccurred after a flaw in the pipelinewent undetected because consultantsmisread inspection data.4

OctoberANOTHER FATALITY IN THE OILFIELDSOne worker was killed and three othersinjured after an attempt to weld a ballvalve onto the back of an oilfield tankertruck went wrong. Gases fromhydrocarbon residue in the tanker truckignited and blew a hole in theworkshop’s metal roof. The accidentoccurred at the Key Energy facility inKilgore, Texas, an oilfield services firm.

NovemberMISSISSIPPI RIVER SPILL ENDANGERS LOCAL WILDLIFEThe oil tanker Westchester lost poweron the Mississippi River and ranaground some 60 miles south of NewOrleans, spilling 554,400 gallons ofcrude oil, according to the U.S. CoastGuard. Soon after the spill the CoastGuard closed 29 miles of the river totraffic. At risk in the area at the timewere 300,000 migratory geese andducks that had settled into the marshesand bays of eastern PlaqueminesParish near the mouth of the river, aswell as millions of oysters. The area wasalso home to pelicans, shorebirds,seabirds, crabs, shrimp and sport fish.Pelicans and other animals were foundcovered with oil. Officials said it wasfortunate the wind and tide pushed theoil to the river’s west bank, keeping itconcentrated there and minimizingharm to wildlife in the Delta NationalWildlife Refuge on the east bank.5

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2000 Incident List

“I saw a big fireball and a black cloudcoming at me,” recounted 40-year-old truck driver John Beaver, whowas working at the MotivaEnterprises oil refinery in DelawareCity, Delaware on July 17th, 2001.Beaver was describing the scenewhen a giant storage tank at therefinery exploded. He was sitting inthe cab of his truck at the time,waiting to be loaded with somepetroleum waste. When he saw thefireball coming at him he duckedunder the dashboard for protection,but immediately began to havetrouble breathing. He managed to getthe truck rolling for about 50 feet,but then passed out. Two othercontract workers nearby managed toget to him and pull him away from

the fumes. Later, from his hospitalbed, Beaver recalled seeing two menworking on top of the tank that wasdestroyed in the explosion. One ofthose workers was killed and eightothers injured.

The tank that had exploded wasone of a cluster of six big storagetanks that held more than 1.2 milliongallons of spent sulfuric acid. Duringthe explosion, the tank was rockedoff of its foundation and latercollapsed in the fire, while a nearbytank began to leak. More than

660,000 gallons of sulfuric acidspilled from the tanks, breached alarge containment area and beganpolluting the nearby Delaware River.6

Thousands of fish and crab werekilled. The body of Jeff Davis, 50 —–a contractor who died when he fellfrom atop the collapsing storage tankinto a pool of the toxic acid —– wasnever found.

The EPA estimated that more than1 million gallons of sulfuric acid andpetroleum products spilled intowaterways leading to Red Lion Creek

and the Delaware River, killing atleast 2,400 fish and 240 blue crabs,as well as affecting nesting heronson nearby Pea Patch Island.

In August 2002, the U.S. ChemicalSafety Board (CSB) charged that theaccident occurred because ofneglected warnings, shoddyequipment changes, and chronic,unrepaired corrosion and leaks in the415,000-gallon storage tank. “Hadany one of these elements beenhandled more effectively,” said CSBchairwoman, Carolyn Merritt, “thisaccident probably would not haveoccurred.”7

“Motiva Tank Explosion” Delaware City, Delaware

Had any one of these elements been handledmore effectively, this accident probably would nothave occurred.

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April 1FROST CAUSES PIPELINE FIRE?A few miles west of Bottinneau,North Dakota, a Dome gasolinepipeline ruptured and burned 1.1million gallons of gasoline before thepipeline was eventually shut down.The company attributed the break todamage by an “outside force,” whichBottineau County Sheriff StevenWatson said appeared to be frost thatmelted at uneven rates, twisting andbreaking the pipeline. The real culprit?Lax regulation on pipelines.8

April 19MECHANICAL FAILURE CAUSESRIG BLOWOUTNear the crawfish ponds andsugarcane fields of Loreauville andNew Iberia, Louisiana, an oil drillingrig, owned by Louisiana Swabbing andcontracted to Nuex Exploration,experienced a failure on the blowoutstack preventer. Escaping natural gas,combined with sand and oil, caused aspark that ignited the well, resulting inan explosion that destroyed the rig.The resulting 80-foot flames andthick, black clouds could be seen fromseveral miles away. Although therewere no reported injuries at the wellsite, the fire burned for four days.Over 46,000 gallons of oil were spilledduring the blowout which affected thenearby Tee Bayou.9

JuneCOMMUNITY HEALTH THREATENED BY LOCAL GASSTATIONSThe EPA ordered cleanup of anunderground gasoline leak from theformer Tranguch Tire Service site inHazelton, Pennsylvania where anunderground gasoline plume of anestimated 50,000 gallons or more had

impacted a nearby residentialcommunity. Although the Tranguchsite was believed to be the mainsource of the spill, three additionalgas stations, all within a 1 mile radius,also contributed to the plume. Thesite’s impact area involved a 12 city-block area of 402 properties, 359 ofwhich are residential. EPA found 71private residences exceeding the non-detect level for benzene, a highlydangerous liquid toxin, and installedsewer vent traps to help preventvapors from entering homes in thisarea. EPA also had to removecontaminated soil from the site andalso treat contaminatedgroundwater.10

JulyDEADLY OFFSHORE BLOWOUTOne worker was killed and others wereinjured during an uncontrolled wellblowout in the Texas offshore area ofthe Gulf of Mexico during drillingoperations. The fatality, injuries andblowout occurred in association with

the jack-up drilling rig Marine IV, thenowned by Pride Offshore Drilling.11

NovemberBARGE SPILL SHUTS DOWNRIVERWhile waiting to enter the McAlpine lockand dam on the Ohio River, a tankbarge’s cargo tanks were damaged byan unknown object below the waterline.Workers were able to plug the leak butnot until after 125,000 gallons ofgasoline were dumped into the OhioRiver. Not only were water and localwildlife disturbed by the large spill, butlocal business was affected as well whenthe locking chambers on the river hadto be shut down in an effort to containthis mishap.12

2001 IncidentList

The transportation and storage offuels can become dangerousprocesses when safety measuresare not followed correctly.

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Perhaps no other part of the oilsystem is better known to the averageperson than the corner gas station. InAmerica, and around the world, thereare hundreds of thousands of gasolinestations, many under the banner of thefamiliar gasoline brands —– Exxon,Chevron, Texaco, Shell, Sunoco, andothers. But buried beneath each andevery gas station are a series of tanksthat hold thousands of gallons ofgasoline or diesel fuel. Not all of thesetanks have what experts call “goodintegrity,” meaning that they are muchmore likely to leak. In the early 1990s,EPA estimated that about 25 percent

of the 800,000 underground tanks atU.S. gas stations were leaking. In the2000-2010 period, despite tougherlaws and regulation, gas stations havecontinued leaking gasoline and dieselfuel throughout America. These leakssometimes contaminate groundwaterand drinking water sources, foul creeksand rivers, threaten wildlife, or seepbeneath residential communities,posing dangers with fumes.

In February 2001, 12 years after theChevron company first knew it had anunderground gasoline leak at aMaryland/Washington, D.C. servicestation, the company informedWashington, D.C. officials and localresidents, that a large undergroundplume of leaked gasoline had migratedbeneath their community. Someresidents complained for years aboutgasoline smells, but to no avail.

Chevron first disclosed a small spill toMaryland officials in 1989, but testingin February 2001 indicated that thelarge, 1,300-foot underground gasolineplume had migrated beneath theWashington, D.C. community. Theplume was found to contain high levelsof benzene in a few locations andgasoline was found in groundwaterseveral feet below the basements inthe neighborhood.13

In June 2001, EPA took over thecleanup of an underground gasolineleak in Hazelton, Pennsylvania whereseveral gas stations owned or formerlyowned by Shell, Amoco, and StandardOil were all believed to havecontributed to a gasoline plume largerthan 50,000 gallons. That leak creptbeneath a nearby residentialcommunity, impacting a 12 city-blockarea with more than 350 residential

properties, some of which were foundto have excessive levels for benzene.14

In July 2001, the Plainview WaterDistrict of Long Island, New York,which supplies drinking water to35,000 residents, brought a lawsuitagainst ExxonMobil over a gasolineleak from a former Mobil gas stationthe district feared would contaminateits 11 drinking wells.

In Orange County, California,hundreds of leaking gasoline stationsresulted in settlements during the2002-2005 period revealing theextent of the problem in that area. BP,ARCO15, Thrifty Oil16, and Shell Oil17

agreed to pay over $10 million in orderto clean up nearly 400 gas stationswhich had leaked gasoline intogroundwater, threatening publicdrinking water supplies.

In November 2008, Shell Oil enteredan agreement with the state ofWashington to clean up contaminationfrom leaks at 83 current and formergas stations. Shell agreed to clean upsoil or groundwater contamination inseven Washington counties, includingKing, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcomcounties.18

“Gas Station Blues” Leaking Underground Tanks

Gasoline is a toxic substance. Depending on theblend, gasoline can have as many as 225 chemicalcomponents and additives, including knowncarcinogens such as benzene.

“”

January 6TRUCK SPILLS DIESEL INTORIVERA petroleum tank on a truck carryingred-dyed diesel and being transportedby Hi-Noon Petroleum, Inc. wasinvolved in a traffic accident on IdahoState Highway 12, just northwest ofKooskia, Idaho. The accident resultedin the release of approximately 10,000gallons of diesel into the Middle Fork ofthe Clearwater River. Notification wassent to four downstream municipalwater systems to prepare for potentialoil impacts. The systems were closedfor two days. Hi-Noon Petroleum, Inc.provided bottled water to localresidents.19

January 25REFINERY POLLUTES LOCALSCHOOLSAccording to charges brought byCalifornia’s South Coast Air QualityManagement District, strong odorsfrom BP’s Carson oil refinery in the LosAngeles area “caused a publicnuisance and severely affected

students” at nearby schools includingthe Broad Avenue Elementary Schooland the Wilmington Middle School,both in Wilmington, California.20

April 10MYSTERIOUS SPILL OILS BIRDSA spill of unknown origin of at least10,000 gallons of industrial gradewaste oil was found in the Rouge Riverin Detroit, Michigan. The spill did notappear to contain toxic chemicals,according to preliminary tests butabout 70 oiled birds were foundaccording to agent of the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service. Cleanup costs wereexpected to reach at least $2 million.21

July 4MAJOR PIPELINE RUPTUREA 34-inch diameter steel pipeline ownedand operated by Enbridge Pipelines,ruptured in a marsh west of Cohasset,Minnesota spilling over 250,000 gallonsof crude oil into the environment. Thecost of the accident was reported to beapproximately $5.6 million. In anattempt to keep the oil from

contaminating the Mississippi River, theMinnesota Department of NaturalResources set a controlled burn thatlasted for one day and created a smokeplume about a mile high and five mileslong. The U. S. National TransportationSafety Board determined the probablecause was “inadequate loading of thepipe for transportation that allowed afatigue crack to initiate…The fatiguecrack grew with pressure cycle stressesuntil the crack reached a critical size andthe pipe ruptured.”22

2002BP FALSIFIES INSPECTIONSCalifornia officials alleged that BP hadfalsified inspections of storage fueltanks at a Los Angeles area refineryand that more than 80 percent of thefacilities didn’t meet requirements formaintaining storage tanks. Inspectorshad to get a warrant before BP allowedthem to check the tanks. The companyeventually settled a lawsuit brought bythe South Coast Air QualityManagement District for more than$100 million.23

2002 Incident List

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When oil is spilled,birds and otherwildlife can bedevastated two-fold:they can be directlycovered in the sludgeand their habitat andfood sources getcontaminated.

On Friday morning, February 21,2003, a tanker barge off-loadinggasoline at ExxonMobil’s oil depot atStaten Island, New York explodedwith tremendous force, shakingbusinesses and homes for milesaround. Black smoke from the blazedrifted through the boroughs ofBrooklyn, Manhattan and Queens andrattled city residents. On Wall Street,stock traders, thinking that theexplosion was a terrorist attack,began to feverishly sell off stock24.

Meanwhile, at the accident scene,it looked like a war zone. “I lookedup at the sky, and I saw pieces of

metal flying all over,” said workerJaime Villa, who was repairing apump at the depot when the bargeexploded. “I ran as fast as I couldgo.” Electrical contractor ErnieCamerlingo also described the scene:‘’It sounded like a bomb going off. Icould feel the debris hitting the topof my car.” The barge —– BouchardBarge 125 —– had unloaded about halfits cargo of 100,000 barrels ofunleaded gasoline before it exploded,killing two barge crewmen andinjuring one ExxonMobil worker. Thebarge continued to burn ferociouslyfollowing the explosion, sendingflames higher than 100 feet into theair. A NASA satellite image latershowed the smoke plume stretching94 miles from the site of the fire.

The Bouchard barge company had

been responsible for other previousNew York spills, including one EastRiver spill in March 2002 in which aBouchard employee was found legallydrunk. The cleanup for that spilllasted several weeks and cost $1.3million. Bouchard would have yetanother spill just two monthsfollowing the Staten Island bargeexplosion, when one of its barges ranaground outside a shipping lane atBuzzards Bay, Massachusetts. In thatspill, 98,000 gallons of fuel oil took aconsiderable toll on shorelines, birdsand other wildlife.

Five years after the Staten Island

barge explosion, the U.S. attorney’soffice in Brooklyn asked a federaljudge for a judgment againstBouchard of up to $61.6 million underthe Clean Water Act.25 About 3.2million gallons of gasoline werespilled into the Arthur Kill waterwayat the time of the incident, much ofwhich was assumed to have beenburned off in the fire that followed.“Shipping companies that spill largequantities of gasoline into theenvironment and navigable watersmust be penalized and made tocontribute to the cost of futurecleanups,” said U.S. attorney, BentonJ. Campbell, in a statement at thefiling.

“Barge Explodes in New York” ExxonMobil Oil Depot

It sounded like a bomb going off. I could feel thedebris hitting the top of my car.“ ”

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January 24ANOTHER ENBRIDGE PIPE LEAKA pipeline at the Enbridge Energyterminal in Douglas County,Wisconsin ruptured, spilling crude oilonto the frozen Nemadji River, atributary of Lake Superior. At least100,000 gallons of oil spilled duringthe event, most of which wascontained at the terminal site in stormwater ditches and two retentionponds. Approximately 18,000 gallonsmigrated to the frozen Nemadji River,about a half mile away.26

April 7IMPROPER TANK OPERATIONSCAUSE EXPLOSIONAn 80,000 barrel storage tank at aConocoPhillips Co. tank farm inGlenpool, Oklahoma, exploded andburned as it was being filled withdiesel fuel. More than 300,000 gallonsof diesel were in the tank when itexploded. The resulting fire burned for21 hours and damaged two nearbystorage tanks. The cost of theaccident, including emergencyresponse, environmental remediation,evacuation, lost product, propertydamage, and claims, was almost $2.5million. There were no injuries orfatalities, although nearby residentswere evacuated, and schools wereclosed for two days. The U.S. NationalTransportation Safety Boarddetermined that the probable causewas “ignition of a flammable fuel airmixture within the tank by a staticelectricity discharge due to theimproper manner in whichConocoPhillips Company conductedtank operations.”27

April 27BARGE SPILL DESTROYS ENDANGERED HABITATOil cargo barge “B-120” owned by theBouchard Transportation Co. ofHicksville, New York, grounded in

waters outside of the shipping lanes atthe entrance to Buzzards Bay insouthern Massachusetts. Barge “B120” had a capacity of more than 4million gallons and dischargedapproximately 98,000 gallons of thatinto the waterway. Overall, more than90 miles of coast line were oiled. Over400 birds were killed, and the habitatsof three endangered species —– roseatetern, piping plover and tiger beetle —–and shell fish were damaged whenthey were soaked in oil. Two oiled sealswere also reported in the terribleincident. Clean up costs exceeded $23million and a lawsuit was later broughtby Massachusetts property owners.28

November 2GAS PIPELINE EXPLODES…AGAINA Texas Eastern Transmission naturalgas pipeline exploded in Bath County,Kentucky, less than one mile south ofa Duke Energy pumping station. A fireburned for about an hour beforefirefighters extinguished it. The sameline had previously exploded inOctober 1985 in Hillsboro, about 5miles north of the 2003 blast wheretwo people were injured.29

December 18PEMEX REFINERY INCIDENTKILLS WORKERS…AGAINA fire at a Pemex oil refinery at Tula, Mexico, about 50 miles north ofMexico City, killed one worker andinjured four others. Pemex officialssaid the blaze started in a unit thatproduces diesel fuel. Firefighters wereable to control the blaze. The Tularefinery is Pemex’s second mostimportant refinery, with a capacity of320,000 barrels per day, and is themain supplier for the Mexico City area.A series of accidents occurred at thissame refinery two years earlier, killingtwo workers and prompting atemporary, partial closure.30

Oil and fire do not go well together.Unfortunately, we’ve seen toomany incidents involvingdangerous fires and explosionsfrom oil rigs, pipelines, andrefineries over the past decade.

2003 Incident List

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Tens of thousands of oil tanker truckstravel North American highways everyday. And as with all vehicles, accidentshappen, whether it’s vehicle problems,driver mistakes, roadway design, orsome combination of factors. Yet oiltankers —– typically hauling flammable,explosive and/or toxic cargoes —– arenot just any vehicle. Accidentsinvolving these vehicles, when theyoccur, can often be catastrophic,killing and maiming people, pollutingthe environment, and creatingdisruptions that can tie up a region forweeks and months, costing millions ofdollars. Here are a few examples,beginning in 2004.

FOUR DEAD. On January 13th, 2004, the driver

of the Petro Chemical Transporttanker truck had just filled up for thesecond time that day at the Citgofuels terminal in Baltimore, Maryland.

He was running a little late andheaded for his next delivery stopsouth in Bethesda, Maryland. As hecame into the turn off the elevatedramp, passing over I-95, he lostcontrol of the truck as it rode over andthrough the concrete guard barrier,going airborne over the side, andcrashing onto the northbound I-95lanes below. An explosion and largefire followed, spreading 8,800 gallonsof burning gasoline all over the trafficlanes and beyond. Four vehiclestraveling northbound on I-95 droveinto the fire, losing visibility andcolliding.

“There was fire everywhere,”reported one spokesman for theMaryland State Highway

Administration.31 “It was down in thewoods, on other vehicles. It wasterrible.” Later, after firefighters hadextinguished the blaze, they found thewreckage of five vehicles within theburned area. Four people died in theincident with one of the commercialtruck drivers escaping from hisburning vehicle. The NationalTransportation Safety Boarddetermined the cause of the accidentto be “failure of the tanker driver tomaintain control of his vehicle forundetermined reasons.”32 Alsocontributing to the accident accordingto the NTSB was “the narrowedshoulder at the beginning of theoverpass and the outdated design ofthis section of the roadway.”

DAMAGED BRIDGE. A few months later, in late March2004, a tractor trailer carrying 9,000gallons of home heating fuel collided

with a car on an elevated stretch ofInterstate 95 near Bridgeport,Connecticut, igniting a fire that causedpart of the roadway to buckle and cavein. The blaze was so strong that it alsomelted steel support beams on a newlyconstructed bridge on the southboundside. The incident forced partial closingand traffic rerouting on one of thebusiest highways in the Northeast formore than a week.

TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE.In late April 2007, an oil tanker truckwith 8,600 gallons of gasoline cameonto an interchange in Oakland,California. As the truck entered acurve, the driver lost control, hit aguardrail, and flipped the truck on itsside. The tanker then exploded,sending flames hundreds of feet intothe air. The driver of the truck washospitalized with second degree burns,but no other injuries were reported.Luckily, the incident occurred at 3:45a.m., when there was minimal traffic.The fire was so powerful that itbuckled a three lane section ofInterstate 580 and caused it tocollapse onto some lanes of Interstate880 30 feet below.33 Both were keycommuter routes and heavily used. Onan average day, the two spans carried160,000 vehicles. Repairs on theinterchange lasted several weeks.

These are only a few of the “rolling firebomb” incidents that have occurred inthe U.S. during the last decade, manyincurring considerable disruption andrepair costs. Other tanker truckincidents were less disruptive,however, they still involved spills of oil,gasoline, diesel, oil waste, etc. thatpolluted nearby rivers, streams, orother water sources.

“Highway Fireballs” Tanker Truck Explosions

There was fire everywhere. It was down in thewoods, on other vehicles. It was terrible there.“ ”

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January 19FRONTIER REFINERY EXPLODES…AGAIN…AND AGAINLoud explosions rocked the Frontier Oilrefinery in Cheyenne, Wyoming on aMonday afternoon in mid-January2004, causing flames to shoot high inthe air along with thick, black smoke.Raymond Cleveland, a contractor whowas working inside the refinerygrounds, told an Associated Pressreporter that he heard two loudexplosions —– a smaller one followed bya larger one —– and then he andanother worker bolted for the gate.About a third of the work force was onduty at the time of the explosions, but,fortunately, no injuries were reported.Refinery fire-fighting crews werejoined by the Cheyenne FireDepartment in battling the blaze,which was extinguished within a coupleof hours. The refinery is owned byHouston based Frontier Oil Corp. andproduces gasoline, diesel, liquefiedpetroleum gas, asphalt and coke. Theplant was the scene of two previousexplosions: one in 1992 that killed anemployee and injured five others, andone in 2001 when hydrogen gascompressor exploded and injured twoworkers.34

April 28COMPANY FAILURES LEAD TODIESEL SPILLA petroleum pipeline owned andoperated by Kinder Morgan EnergyPartners ruptured and spilled over65,000 gallons of diesel fuel intomarshes adjacent to Suisun Bay inNorthern California. The companyfailed to notify California authoritiesabout the spill for 18 hours, a failurefor which it was later cited. It wasfound that the line was corroded forwhich Kinder Morgan pled guilty andpaid $3 million in penalties andrestitution.

September 20RIG SPILLS INTO STREAM AFFECTING WILDLIFEDuring construction of a new well inKingston Township, Ohio, a drilling rigmalfunctioned resulting in an oil spill.The spill, first reported to the OhioDepartment of Natural Resources bythe drillers, was initially believed to becontained to the drilling site. Responseto neighbors’ concerns regardingpetroleum odors revealed that crudeoil had reached the nearby WestBranch Creek and traveled about 1.5miles downstream past a residentialarea. Later estimates indicated that upto 84,000 gallons of crude had spilled,contaminating stream wildlife. Cleanupcrews later vacuumed large amountsof oil off of West Branch Creek, andapproximately one mile of the creekwas excavated to remove heavilyimpacted vegetation.35

October 14PUGET SOUND MYSTERY SPILLA tugboat captain on Puget Sound,Washington, noticed and reported anexpanding oil slick in the channelbetween Tacoma and Vashon,Washington known as the DalcoPassage. The oil came from anunknown source. An extensive cleanupeffort gathered 59 tons of oily debrisfrom the shores and over 6,800

gallons of oily water from skimmingoperations. The cleanup cost to federaland state oil spill contingency fundswas nearly $2 million. No responsibleparty was initially identified, but oilsample tests conducted by both stateand federal laboratories indicated thata Polar Texas oil tanker, owned byConocoPhillips, was the source of theoil that soiled beaches around theDalco Passage.36

November 26TANKER SPILLS INTO RIVERCyprus-registered tanker M/T Athos I,a 750-foot vessel, was believed to havehit one or more obstructions in theDelaware River near Philadelphia,Pennsylvania during maximum springlow tide, resulting in three hull holes,including a major gash in the cargohull. The tanker was carrying 13.6million gallons of heavy crude oil fromVenezuela, approximately 264,000gallons of which were released into theriver. The spill spread downriver, oiling57 miles of river shoreline inPennsylvania, New Jersey, andDelaware. The spill also closed theDelaware River to commercial vesseltraffic for over a week. Submerged oilresulted in contaminated water intakesand also forced the closure of theSalem Nuclear Power Plant on the NewJersey side of the river.37

Spilled oil, like thatfrom the Athosbarge in theDelaware River,does not onlypollute the waterand wildlife but italso requires costlyand time intensivecleanup efforts.

2004 Incident List

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On March 23rd, 2005 in Texas City,Texas, a horrendous explosion andfire at the BP oil refinery killed 15workers and injured another 180people. It was one of the worst U.S.industrial accidents to have occurredsince the late 1980s. Pat Nickerson, aveteran of that refinery for 28 years,was on site that day, driving his truckinside the refinery to an office trailer.“I looked down the road. It looked likefumes, like on a real hot day, you seethese heat waves coming up,” heexplained, describing the scene, “andthen I saw an ignition and a blast.

Then my windshield shattered. Theroof of the vehicle I was driving cavedin on me.”38

A thunderous explosion occurredwhen a gasoline processing unitunder repair overflowed with gas andwas ignited by a nearby idling truck.After the blast, Nickerson begandigging through the wreckage lookingfor survivors. “Out of the corner ofmy eye, there was somebody on theground,” he later recalled in a 60Minutes interview, “A guy namedRyan Rodriguez, was just kind ofstaring at me. He couldn’t movebecause his face was so deformedfrom the blast. And bones and stuffwere protruding from his chin.”39

Rodriguez died in the ambulance.When the explosion occurred that

day, the surrounding community wasrocked; 43,000 people were told to“shelter in place.” Homes weredamaged as far away as three-quarters of a mile from the refinery.

Financial losses would exceed $1.5billion.

Eva Rowe, 21 years old, was drivingto Texas City on the day of theexplosion to visit her parents, whoboth worked at the refinery. “I was ata gas station about 45 minutesaway,” she would later recall. “Someman inside said that the BP refineryhad exploded. I called my mom. Andmy mom didn’t answer, and that’s not like my mom. She alwaysanswered.”40 Rowe later learned thatboth of her parents were among the15 killed that day.

In the aftermath of the accidentthere were several investigations,none of which had good things toreport about BP. The U.S. ChemicalSafety Board (CSB) March 2007

report on the accident noted: “Cost-cutting and failure to invest in the1990s by Amoco and then BP left theTexas City refinery vulnerable to acatastrophe. CSB Chair CarolynMeritt, appointed by PresidentGeorge Bush, noted at a pressconference on the investigation:“What BP experienced was theperfect storm where aginginfrastructure, overzealous costcutting, inadequate design, and riskblindness occurred. The result wasthe worst workplace catastrophe inmore than a decade.”41

Meritt said much of the same thingin a CBS 60 Minutes interview: “Theproblems that existed at BP TexasCity were neither momentary norsuperficial. They ran deep throughthat operation —– of a risk denial and arisk blindness that was not beingaddressed anywhere in theorganization.” She added: “Thesethings do not have to happen. Theyare preventable. They are predictable,and people do not have to diebecause they’re earning a living.”

“BP’s Texas City Disaster” 15 Killed, 180 Injured

Cost-cutting and failure to invest in the 1990s byAmoco and then BP left the Texas City refineryvulnerable to a catastrophe.

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June 16COMPANIES FORCED TO COMPLYThe U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) and the U.S. Departmentof Justice announced a settlementwith petroleum refiners Valero, Tesoro,and Sunoco for repeated violations ofits Clean Air Act permits at 18refineries in 8 states. The companiesagreed, for each refinery, to upgradeleak detection and repair practices,implement programs to minimizeflaring of hazardous gases, reduceemissions from sulphur recoveryplants, and adopt strategies to ensurethe proper handling of benzenewastewater. Air pollution fines werealso part of the settlement. Valeroagreed to pay a $5.5 million civil

penalty and spend more than $5.5million on environmentally beneficialprojects to reduce emissions andsupport activities in the communitieswhere it operates. Sunoco agreed paya $3 million civil penalty and spendmore than $3.9 million onenvironmentally beneficial projects.42

July 12TANKER TRUCK SPILLSThe wreck of a tanker truck south ofSilt, Colorado caused a spill of whatwas believed to be nearly 8,000gallons of produced water andcondensates (a byproduct of natural-gas drilling). Witnesses reported thatfumes filled the air and a yellowsubstance formed roadside puddles.The spill occurred six miles up DryHollow Road and the accident caused aseven-hour road closure covering ahalf-mile radius. One resident in thearea, Gary Gagne, reported seeing twohazardous materials trucks at theaccident scene and clean-up workerswith respirators. “That just sort of adds

to my worries,” said Gagne afterseeing the respirator-equippedworkers. “What do I do?” he asked.“I’m very upset that I’m not gettingphone calls. There’s nothing scarierthan when the gas industry leaves usuninformed.”43

NovemberTWO WORKERS KILLEDTwo workers were asphyxiated atValero Energy’s Delaware City,Delaware refinery due to a nitrogengas leak.44

Year 2005ANNUAL REPORTED SPILLSCalgary-based Enbridge, Inc., a largeNorth American pipeline operator,reported that it spilled over 412,000gallons in its operations during 2005,spills which the company says werelargely ‘contained within its facilities.’45

Instead of more wind turbines,Americans have seen increasedoccurrences of explosions, fire,and black smoke since 2000.

2005 Incident List

There’s nothing scarierthan when the gas industryleaves us uninformed.

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Petroleum Company Accidents and Spills 2000-2009

Data Sources: Significant Natural Gas Distribution Incidents: geocoded from 2010-02-17 PHMSA Pipeline Safety – Flagged Incidents.zip at http://primis.phmOuter Continental Shelf Spills: geocoded from Spills50bbl1964-2009.xls at http://www.mms.gov/incidents/spills1996-2011.htm

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill – April 2010

Significant Natural Gas Distribution Incidents:where fatality or injury occurred orproperty damage was greater thanor equal to $50,000 in 1984 dollars

Total Fatalities and Injuries

Outer Continental Shelf Spills:spill incidents 50 barrels and greater in size of petroleum and other toxicsubstances resulting from FederalOuter Continental Shelf (OCS) oil andgas activities

0 (557 incidents)

1 - 2 (326 incidents)



Minor Spill –– less than 10,000 gallons (82 incidents)

Medium Spill –– between 10,000 and100,000 gallons (47 incidents

Major Spill –– greater than 100,000gallons (1 incident)

sa.dot.gov/comm/reports/safety/SIDA.html

Map prepared by GreenInfo Network July 2010. www.greeninfo.com

On June 19th, 2006, a waste oil tankat the Citgo Lake Charles oil refineryon the Calcasieu River insouthwestern Louisiana spilled anestimated 3 million gallons of slop oilafter being compromised during aviolent rain storm.

Citgo’s spill was initially containedby oil booms, but the booms laterfailed and oil spread down the riverinto Calcasieu Lake. Roughly 2.25million gallons of slop oil werereleased into the water as a result.46

The Louisiana Department of Public

Health issued a public health andrecreational advisory on swimming,fishing, and boating in the CalcasieuEstuary. A cleanup effort commencedand continued for weeks, costingmillions of dollars. About 20 miles ofthe Calcasieu River, its ship channel,and three area lakes were closed forweeks.

Two years after the spill, the federalgovernment brought legal actionagainst Citgo under the Clean WaterAct. In court, EPA argued that Citgofailed to maintain its wastewatertreatment facilities and oil skimmingsystem for 10 years before the spill. In

1994, Citgo had converted its lagoonwaste water system into a tanksystem, but to cut costs, only twostorm water tanks were built,although they were advised that anadditional tank was needed.

Documents surfaced which showedthat Citgo cut $30 million from itsstorm water tank project. Citgo pled

guilty to negligence for failing tomaintain storm water tanks andadequate storm water storage at itsrefinery. The company was fined $13million, the largest ever at that timefor a criminal misdemeanor violationof the Clean Water Act.47 The court

also found that Citgo knowinglymisinformed government agencies ofthe status and capabilities of theirwaste water treatment unit. In oneAugust 2009 state court proceeding, ajudge found that Citgo downplayed thehazards of the spill and failed to warnthe public about what was in the slopoil that was released into the river.

“Citgo Fouls The Calcasieu” June 2006: River Spill

Citgo knowingly misinformed governmentagencies of the status and capabilities of their wastewater treatment unit.

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March 2CORRODED BP PIPELINE SPILLSA leak from a BP pipeline on the tundraof Alaska’s North Slope spilled some267,000 gallons of thick crude oil overtwo acres near the Prudhoe Bayproduction area. The spill wentundetected for nearly five days beforean oilfield worker driving through thearea detected the scent ofhydrocarbons. BP and the AlaskaDepartment of EnvironmentalConservation initially stated the oilescaped through a pinprick size hole ina corroded 34 inch pipe that tied intothe larger Trans Alaska PipelineSystem. However, five months after theincident, BP conceded that the leak waspart of a widespread corrosion problemin its system that would force it toreplace 16 miles of a 22 mile pipelinefrom Prudhoe Bay. In 2007, BP pledguilty to the negligent discharge of oilunder the federal Clean Water Act andwas fined $20 million for the spill.48

June 1VALERO SPILLS INTO SHIPPINGCHANNELValero Refining spilled over 140,000gallons of oil into the Corpus ChristiShip Channel at Corpus Christi,Texas. The spill came from the WestPlant section of Valero’s Corpus ChristiRefinery where an above-groundstorage tank on the edge of the canalleaked oil into the water. The CorpusChristi Ship Channel, which spills intothe Gulf of Mexico, is used for heavy

barge and commercial ship traffic. Twoyears after the spill, Valero paid $2million for violations of the CleanWater Act and was required to institutesafety measures that would preventfuture oil discharges.49

June 5DANGEROUS WORKING CONDITIONS TURN DEADLYThree workers were killed and anotherseriously injured when explosions anda fire occurred at the Partridge Raleighoilfield in Raleigh, Mississippi. Theworkers, all employees of Stringer’sOilfield Services, were completingpiping connections between tankswhen welding sparks ignitedflammable vapor venting from one ofthe tanks. An investigation by the U.S.Chemical Safety Board (CSB) foundthat unsafe work practices were thecause of the accident andrecommended increased OccupationalSafety and Health Administration(OSHA) inspections of the region’s oiland gas production facilities. CSB alsocalled on the Mississippi Oil and GasBoard to identify, and refer to OSHA,potentially unsafe health and safetyconditions observed during fieldinspections of well sites and drillingoperations. The fatality rate of the oiland gas extraction industry is overeight and a half times higher than theaverage for all industries in the U.S.,according to the CSB. “Lives cannot bean acceptable added cost of providingfuel to American consumers,” said CSBChairman Carolyn Merritt.50

August 15SUNOCO PIPELINE LEAKSSunoco Pipeline LP and Mid-ValleyPipeline Co. agreed to pay a $2.57million penalty in a U.S. JusticeDepartment settlement for a January2005 pipeline leak that dumped morethan 260,000 gallons of crude oil intothe Kentucky River.51 The spill

affected a 16 mile stretch of theKentucky River, and also eventuallyentered the Ohio River. The spillresulted from a weld failure in a pipethat had been laid nearly 60 yearsprior. Both Mid-Valley Pipeline Co. andSunoco Pipeline LP are affiliates ofSunoco Logistics, of Philadelphia, acompany responsible for constantleaks, spills, and other incidents.

October 17ANOTHER SUNOCO LEAKAn estimated 220,000 gallons of crudeoil spilled onto the ground at Sunoco’soil refinery in South Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. The oil spill occurred ata storage tank on the Sunoco tankfarm, and remained on site, within acontainment area surrounding thetank, according to Philadelphia FireDepartment officials. According toEPA, the incident reinforced theimportance of providing secondarycontainment for bulk storagecontainers as required by the Oil SpillPrevention regulations.52

2006 Incident List

The fatality rate of the oiland gas extraction industry isover eight and a half timeshigher than the average forall industries in the U.S.

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A petroleum company’s negligencecan magnify an incident by severalfold. Some leaks, like this one inAlaska’s North Slope, go on fordays before they are detected,fixed, and cleaned up.

On July 17th, 2007, New York Stateattorney general Andrew Cuomo fileda lawsuit against Exxon Mobil andfour other companies ordering themto clean up a 57 year old oil spill thathad formed a giant underground poolof mixed petroleum beneath thestreets of Brooklyn, New York. Thegiant oil leak —– variously estimatedat between 17 and 30 million gallons—– began sometime in the 1940s. Oilrefining had begun in that part of thecity as early as the 1860s but itwasn’t until a gasoline explosion in1950 that city officials were alertedto the seriousness of the problem.

Construction workers excavating inthe 1970s confronted a black oozeseeping up from the ground,temporarily halting constructionthere until the material could beremoved. By 1978, New York officials

had traced the problem to oil storagetanks located on a site alongNewtown Creek near the Brooklyn-Queens boundary line. Mobil, Amocoand a number of other companies hadoil storage tanks there dating at leastto the 1940s. Paragon Oil, asubsidiary of Texaco, nowChevron/Texaco, had a terminal thereas well. Over the years, leaks fromtanks and pipes, plus occasionalspills, led to the accumulation of ahuge underground plume of mixedpetroleum products.

In the late 1970s, the U.S. CoastGuard made the first study of theplume, estimating its size to be 17million gallons. By 1979, the oil hadspread underground 52 acres, movingbeyond the tank farm, now beneath aresidential neighborhood near theBrooklyn Queens Expressway. Oil

could be found at depths rangingfrom 10 to 40 feet. Under a 1981agreement with the U.S. Coast Guardand New York City, Mobil and Amocobegan a recovery program, pumpingout 2.5 million gallons from theunderground plume. In the late 1980s,other leaks were found —– one from1988 when a Mobil pipeline leaked60,000 gallons of gasoline.53

In July 1990 —– at a time followingthe Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 anda resurgence of environmentalism —–Mobil Oil announced a renewedcommitment with New York to cleanup the Greenpoint spill.54 Theinitiative played well in thenewspapers, and for a time, the cleanup seemed to be moving forward. Bythe mid-1990s, however, there camereports of elevated levels of severaltoxic chemicals in air and soil samplesleading to additional problems andlawsuits. To this day, EPA and localofficials are strugglingto clean up thissite.

The oil mess in Brooklyn, New Yorkis not an isolated case. Similar leaksand plumes are found throughout theU.S., especially near oil refineries andtank farms, but also near many activeand abandoned neighborhood gasstations where underground storagetanks have leaked. Leakedunderground oil and gasoline plumessuch as these have migrated beneathresidential communities,contaminating drinking water aquifersand wells. Toxic fumes have also havealso threatened public health andsafety. These are yet another realcost that society continues to pay forits oil and gasoline —– in healtheffects, community endangerment,local disruption, and cleanup costs.

“The Oil Beneath Brooklyn”Leak Causes Underground Oil Lake

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January 1, February 2PIPE SPILLS TWICE INTO FARMLAND, WATER TABLEAn Enbridge Inc., pipeline movingCanadian crude oil through Wisconsin toChicago leaked 50,000 gallons of crudeoil onto farmland and into drainageditches of Clark County, Wisconsin.Company officials reported that the linecracked open and released crude untilan operator could shut it down from anoperations center in Canada. Just onemonth later and 80 miles up thepipeline, over 125,000 additional gallonswere spilled when construction crewsstruck the pipeline. Not all of the oilfrom this spill was cleaned up quicklyenough which resulted in oil seepinginto the local water table.55

October 16REFINERY EXPLOSION & FIREAn early morning explosion and fireoccurred at the Exxon Mobil oilrefinery in Billings, Montana. Theexplosion rocked nearby residents andcontinued to burn for most of the day.At the peak of the blaze, flames of 100feet or more could be seen at the site.The fire began at the refinery afterpiping leaked hydrogen andhydrocarbon gases that ignited andcaused the large explosion and fireball.There were no injuries in the refineryor in nearby communities, thoughresidents reported feeling the blast amile or two from the refinery. ShanieHarper, a clerk at a gas station in theLockwood area told the BillingsGazette the blast was enough to “rattlethe windows.” Harper added: “Youreally realize how close you live tosomething that could be dangerous.”56

November 1TWO DEAD, SEVEN INJUREDA 12 inch diameter pipeline operatedby Dixie Pipeline Co., carrying liquidpropane, ruptured in a rural area nearCarmichael, Mississippi. About430,000 gallons of propane werereleased and the resulting gas cloudexpanded over nearby homes andignited, creating a large fireball thatwas heard and seen miles away. In theensuing fire, two people were killed,seven were injured, four houses weredestroyed, and several othersdamaged. About 70 acres of grasslandand woodland were also burned. DixiePipeline reported that damages —–including property damage and loss ofproduct —– totaled $3.4 million. TheU.S. National Transportation SafetyBoard determined that the probablecause of the ruptured liquid propanepipeline was failure of welds near pipejoints.57

November 28TWO KILLED IN ANOTHER PIPEBLASTTwo workers were killed after anEnbridge pipeline leak caught fire in

Northern Minnesota near Clearbrook.The pipeline had leaked two weeksearlier and a temporary repair hadbeen made but as the two workerswere removing the temporary repair,oil began leaking and the fumesignited. The pipeline is part of theEnbridge system that carries crude oilfrom Canada into the U.S. Several ruralfire departments responded to thepipeline fire and residents in a one mileradius were evacuated for a time.Pipeline closings that followed theblaze halted nearly a fifth of oilimports to the U.S.58

December NATURAL GAS EXPLODES HOUSEIn Bainbridge, Ohio, a house explodedin a fireball after methane gases hadinfiltrated the house from thegroundwater below. A 2008 study bythe Ohio Department of NaturalResources concluded that pressurescaused by hydraulic fracturing —– atechnique used in natural gas wellproduction —– had pushed the gasesthrough underground geology into thegroundwater aquifer beneath thehouse.59

There’s no room for error when itcomes to pipeline, rig, and refinerysafety. Lax regulation and non-compliance has been a recipe fordisaster over the past decade.

2007 Incident List

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In mid-February 2008, a thunderousexplosion rocked the TexasPanhandle town of Big Spring andwas felt as far as 45 miles. The Alonoil refinery on the outskirts of townwas the source of the blast, and anominous, mushroom-like cloud ofsmoke rose into the sky that could beseen for miles across the flat TexasPanhandle.

The refinery, which dates to 1928,had been run by a succession ofowners over the years, but mostrecently by the Alon Israel OilCompany which purchased it andother assets from AtofinaPetrochemicals (FINA) in August2000. The 67,000 barrels per dayrefinery produces fuel products andasphalt for markets in thesouthwestern United States.

On the day of the explosion, all 170workers at the Big Spring refinerywere accounted for within an hour orso of the incident. However, fourworkers were injured; one washospitalized for burns, while theothers were treated and released.One passing motorist was alsoinjured after being struck by debrisfrom the explosion. In town,

meanwhile, there was a bit of panicas buildings shook for miles around.

“It was extremely scary; you shookyou were so scared,” said LauraMcEwen, the wife of the town’smayor, who lived about two milesfrom the refinery. “Our wallsshook...It was like an earthquake.”60

John Moseley, managing editor of theBig Spring Herald, whose downtownoffice was also about two miles from

the refinery, said, “I thought it wouldknock the walls down.” Twoelementary schools were evacuated,and classes were later canceled at allnine campuses in the Big Springschool district while parents wereasked to pick up their children.

At the refinery, meanwhile,

multiple fires caused by theexplosion were fought by firefightersand eventually put under control.Some roads were closed, withemergency officials warning of thepotential for more explosions. Asdetails emerged from within therefinery, workers reported seeing a“knee high” gas cloud movingthrough the refinery minutes beforethe initial explosion. Once the gas

cloud was discovered, the order wasgiven for workers to evacuate thearea, which likely saved lives. Thosewho saw and heard the blast wereamazed no one was killed. “There is avery simple explanation for that,”offered Big Spring Mayor RussMcEwen: “The Lord was looking out

for our community and the refineryworkers today. There is no otherexplanation.”61

In mid-December 2008 it wasreported by the company that afaulty weld on the bottom of a pumpcase led to the explosion. Alon, priorto the explosion, was reviewing thewelding on similar pump cases at therefinery, but was not certain howmany pump cases similar to the onethat failed existed at the refinery.

“Big Blast in Big Spring” Explosion Shakes Town

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January 31LARGE FRACKING FLUID LEAKMarathon Oil, one of several companiesdrilling for gas on the Roan Plateaunear Parachute, Colorado, reported adefect in a fluid reserve pit liner thatcaused the release of nearly 1.4 milliongallons of toxic watery drilling or“fracking” fluids from the pit that was“flow back” from a hydro-fractureoperation. The fluids, according to statedocuments, were being stored in areserve pit for use in another “frack”job, but they “infiltrated the subsurface,moved laterally, and discharged from acliff” above Garden Gulch, Coloradoand into the Parachute Creekdrainage.62

AprilOIL SLUDGE KILLS DUCKSAt least 1,600 ducks died in a toxictailings pond at a Syncrude tar sandsoperation in Alberta, Canada north ofFort McMurray.63 Ecologist KevinTimoney estimates that tar sandsproduction has resulted in thepermanent loss of as many as 400,000birds, many of them waterfowl that diein polluted ponds.64

April 17SECRET DRILLING FLUIDS?Cathy Behr, a Durango, Coloradoemergency room nurse, almost diedafter treating a natural gas field workerwho had been splashed in a “fracking”fluid spill at a BP natural gas drillingoperation. During the treatment, Behrhad stripped the man’s clothes off totreat him and stuffed them into plasticbags. Although the worker was later

released, Behr became critically ill andfaced multiple organ failure. When herdoctors sought to uncover the chemicalidentity of the drilling fluid calledZetaFlow, they were stymied by aconfidentiality claim for BP’sconcoction. It was not until Behr beganthe tough road to recovery that thechemical make-up of ZetaFlow wasfinally revealed to the doctor. Eventhen, the doctor was sworn to secrecyby the chemical’s manufacturer andwas prohibited from sharing theinformation with his patient.65

July 23MAJOR MISSISSIPPI RIVER SPILLA collision between a barge and atanker on the Mississippi River resultedin more than 400,000 gallons of heavy

fuel oil being spilled into the river atand below the Port of New Orleans,Louisiana. The chemical tanker MVTintomara split an AmericanCommercial Lines fuel barge in half,causing the spill and forcing the closureof a 58 mile stretch of the river southof New Orleans. All vessel traffic washalted and more than 2,000responders worked on cleanup effortsfor more than month. The barge wassalvaged and about 100 miles of theaffected river was cleaned. However,the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) reported for atime that more than 10 miles of“stranded oil” remained, as cleanupefforts were complicated by a six footdrop in river level.66

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Spilled oil isn’t just bad for humanhealth and the environment; it’salso bad for business. Largestretches of river have been shutdown to barges over the past decadewhen oil spills have occurred.

2008 Incident List

A fire raged at the Billings, MontanaConocoPhillips oil refinery onChristmas Eve, 2009 when a largestorage tank containing asphalt caughtfire and spewed a thick, black cloud ofsmoke and soot into the air. The fireburned ferociously and the smokeplume was visible for miles. Anortheast wind carried the plume oversouth Billings, along the YellowstoneRiver Valley and south of Laurel.Refinery and Billings fire-fightingcrews focused on keeping the flamesfrom spreading to other nearby fueltanks as they sprayed surroundingstructures and fuel tanks with water tokeep them cool as the fire ragednearby.

As the fire came under control, aheavy, dark layer of the smoke hungover Billings for the afternoon. The

tank that burned had a total capacityof about 97,000 barrels or four milliongallons. But at the time of the fire itwas about a quarter full.

In February 2010, a refineryspokesman reported that thecompany’s investigation found thatwhile oil was being removed from thetank, the oil level fell below the smallwarming heater inside the tank, whichin turn, caused the heater to increasein temperature, igniting vapors insidethe tank. Jim Hughes, anenvironmental specialist with theMontana Department of EnvironmentalQuality, said there would be no

enforcement action taken againstConocoPhillips because the fire wasconsidered to be a malfunction. This“malfunction,” however, wasresponsible for emitting tons and tonsof pollutants including sulfur dioxide,carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, andparticulate matter into thecommunity’s air.67

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“Montana Tank Blaze” 2009: ConocoPhillips, Billings, Montana

The fire burned ferociously and the smokeplume was visible for miles. “ ”

January 1METHANE IN DRINKING WELLSAfter a backyard residential water wellexploded in Dimock Township ofSusquehanna County in northeasternPennsylvania, an investigation by thestate Department of EnvironmentalProtection (DER) determined thatmethane contaminated the aquifer asa result of nearby natural gas drilling.The gas had seeped into the drinkingwater wells of at least nine homes inthe township, causing a threat ofexplosion for at least four of them.DER found that Cabot Oil and GasCorp., the company that had drilled 20wells into the gas rich Marcellus Shalewithin three square miles of thedrinking well blast, was responsible forpolluting groundwater with methane.Inspectors also suspected that toomuch pressure in the mile-deep wells,or flaws in their cement and steelcasings, had opened a channel for thegas.68

January 12TANK FIRE INJURES WORKERSFour workers were burned and anearby community evacuated when alarge storage tank at the Silver Eagle

oil refinery at Woods Cross near SaltLake City, Utah had a flash fire. Theaccident occurred when a largeflammable vapor cloud was releasedfrom the storage tank that held anestimated 440,000 gallons of volatilehydrocarbons. The vapor cloud foundan ignition source and the ensuingflash fire spread more than 200 feetfrom the tank, reaching four workers ina nearby shed. The four injured men,ages 30 to 50, were all burned, butpulled to safety by co-workers. Theysuffered burns to the face, neck, arms,and hands, with one suffering lungdamage from inhaling the searingheat. In a local hospital burn unit, onevictim was listed in critical conditionwhile two others were listed in serious.Because other flammable materialswere near the fire, police began goingdoor to door to evacuate residentswithin a half mile of the refinery.Previously in 2004 and 2005, the verysame refinery had been cited for“serious” safety violations.69

July 25GULF PIPE LEAKA pipeline leak of crude oil occurred atthe Shell Oil-operated Eugene Island

Pipeline System in the Gulf of Mexicosome 33 miles offshore and 60 milessouthwest of Houma, Louisiana. Theleak spilled approximately 63,000gallons of oil into the Gulf andstemmed from a crack in the system’spipeline. Local media reported that thespill covered 80 square miles of Gulfwaters and the U.S. Coast Guardreported that “a nine-mile sheen withseveral streamers of darker oil remainsfrom the original spill.”70

October 31TWO TEENS KILLEDTwo teenage boys —– 18 year old WadeWhite and 16 year old Devon Byrd —–were killed while hanging out at an oiltank site located in a rural area nearthe town of Carnes, Mississippi whenthe tank abruptly exploded.Investigators could not officiallyidentify the cause of this tragic andmysterious explosion. According to theU.S. Chemical Safety Board, 42teenagers and young adults —– whosometimes seek out isolated locationsfor hanging out—– have died in oil tankexplosions across the country over thepast 27 years.71

November 5PIPELINE EXPLOSIONA major pipeline explosion occurrednear Bushland, Texas on a weekdaymorning forcing residents in the area tobe evacuated. The explosion, about onemile west of Bushland High School,shook homes, melted window blinds,and shot flames hundreds of feet intothe air. Early reports indicated thatthree structures were damaged and onehome near the blast was completelydestroyed, but luckily no major injuries

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2009 Incident List

Improperly managed andcorroded pipelines crisscrosspetroleum company refineriesand American landscapesspanning the country.

In the southeastern corner ofPennsylvania, where the Philadelphia-based Sunoco Inc. (previously Sun OilCo.) has operated for decades with itsoil refineries and pipelines, localcommunities have grown tired of therepeating pollution and peril posed bythe company’s facilities. Over theyears, there have been fires,explosions, chemical releases, andpollution violations. One editorialwriter for a newspaper in thatcommunity —– the Delaware CountyDaily Times —– exposed this repeatedpattern in a January 2010 editorialafter the company was cited for some

recent air pollution violations by thePennsylvania Department ofEnvironmental Protection (DER).

The citation resulted in a $173,310fine by the DER for three separate airpollution violations that occurred in2008. Combined, these violationsresulted in the uncontrolled release ofvolatile organic compounds, carbondioxide, and nitrogen oxides.

“This all occurred the same yearSun was posting record revenues of$776 million,” noted the Daily Timeseditorial.

The Daily Times editorial wentfurther to list more of Sunoco’s past

incidents: One, when an overflow ofan underground butane storagefacility caused explosions and fires,seriously damaging homes on oneblock and causing evacuations on twoother blocks; another, in 2004, whenSunoco released 84 pounds ofpotentially deadly ethylene oxide; andthen another in 2009 when“Delaware County was once again putin harm’s way when Sun’s ethyleneunit on the Delaware border exploded,resulting in a fire that took 10 hoursto extinguish.”

“...The repeat of this sorry scenariowill only be stopped when thenation’s environmental protectionlaws finally grow some teeth. In themeantime, Delaware County residentsmust be satisfied with apologies andthe prospect of ill health or injuryfrom another industrial disaster.” 74

“Fed Up With Sunoco” Repeating Incidents: 2005-2010

...The repeat of this sorry scenario will only bestopped when the nation’s environmentalprotection laws finally grow some teeth.

“”

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April 2SEVEN DEAD IN FIRESeven workers were killed in an earlymorning fire at Tesoro Corp’s 120,000barrels-per-day Anacortes,Washington oil refinery. It was theworst refinery accident since theMarch 2005 fire at BP’s Texas City,Texas refinery. Federal investigatorssay the victims were likely engulfed in“a firewall” that ignited within seconds.The U.S. Chemical Safety Board andothers are still investigating.75

April 7WILDLIFE REFUGE SPILLAn 18,000 gallon leak of crude oil froma pipeline of the Cypress Pipe Line(CPL) Company spilled into theMississippi Delta National WildlifeRefuge south of New Orleans,Louisiana. Berry Brothers GeneralContractors, conducting dredgingoperations for ExxonMobil in the area,notified the Coast Guard that oil wasspilling into a canal located 10 milessoutheast of Venice, Louisiana. An areaof about 160 square miles was affected—– 16 square miles of wetlands in therefuge and 120 square miles offshore inthe Gulf of Mexico. CPL is a jointventure between BP and Chevron.76

April 19WORKER KILLEDA contract worker was killed atMotiva’s oil refinery in Port Arthur,Texas in a construction crane accident.Motiva has now had two fatalities since2007 at this refinery while it has beenattempting to expand production.

April 20BP DEEPWATER HORIZON SPILLPossibly the worst and mostcontroversial environmental disaster inU.S. history, BP’s Deepwater HorizonOil Spill stemmed from an explosion inwhich 11 rig workers were killed and 17were injured. The Deepwater Horizon

rig, located in the Gulf of Mexico,quickly sank and massive amounts ofcrude oil began pouring out of thedestroyed well head. Although theexact amount of oil spilled into the Gulfhas not been agreed upon, somegovernment estimates place the totalamount as high as 184 milliongallons.77 From the failed earlyattempts to stop the flow of oil, itquickly became clear that BP had nobackup measures for stopping an oilspill one-mile below the surface of theocean. The spill has taken a substantialtoll: wildlife has been killed and oiledwhile habitat has been destroyed; andbusinesses and local economies havebeen devastated by the halt of thefishing and tourism industries.

June 12AND THE BEAT GOES ON…A Chevron oil company pipelinerunning from Colorado to thecompany’s Salt Lake City, Utah oilrefinery leaked 33,600 gallons ofcrude oil into a creek on the easternedge of the city near the University of

Utah campus. Oil was found streamingthrough Red Butte Creek, which feedsinto the Jordan River and, eventually,the Great Salt Lake. Emergency crewsstopped the oil before it reached theLake, but about 200 birds were foundcoated with oil. Salt Lake City MayorRalph Becker, seeing theenvironmental and wildlife impacts,issued a statement saying he was“saddened about the extent of thedamages and will do all I can to ensureour city’s natural assets arerestored.”78 Chevron assumedresponsibility for the spill and initiallyreported that the pipe may have beendamaged by an electrical arc from anearby electric substation source.However, investigators have nowstated that they found a hole in the topof the pipeline where it runs throughRed Butte Canyon.

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Refineries, such as Tesoro Corp’sAnacortes location, have been thelocation of some of the mostdeadly disasters in the U.S. overthe past decade.

2010 Incident List

As the preceding litany of disastersmakes clear, exploiting oil and gasresources to feed a growing appetitefor energy is a dangerous business.Furthermore, petroleum companiesrepeatedly fail to protect people, natureor the climate. The 2010 BP oil spill inthe Gulf of Mexico can and should be awake-up call to all of us that now is thetime to seriously begin reducing ourdependence on dangerous fossil fuelsand on the companies that repeatedlyflaunt the rules, regulations and lawsmeant to protect all of us. Not onlyshould the 2010 BP oil spill be the lastmajor oil or gas disaster, it shouldsignal the beginning of the end of all oiland gas disasters, including globalwarming. The 2010 BP oil spill shouldherald the beginning of a new, saferclean energy world.

PROTECT THE PUBLIC ANDWILDLIFE

! Eliminate the cap on oil and gascompany liability for damagescaused by oil and gas disasters.The record of reckless carelessnessoutlined in this report demonstrates aclear pattern of companies acceptingliability costs and fines as a cost ofdoing business rather than as a signalto clean up their act. When companiesface the full cost of their actions, theywill make better decisions to protectagainst these disasters.

! Remove exemptions from theClean Water and Safe DrinkingWater Acts for oil and gasdevelopment and strengthen otherlaws to protect important fish,wildlife and water resources.

! Implement new measures formonitoring the effects of oil andgas development and makecomprehensive and thoroughmitigation and reclamation of fish,wildlife and water resources a fixturein all development decisions.

! Reform the royalty structure foroil and gas leases on federal landso the public gets a fair rate of returnand so there is dedicated revenue tosafeguard wildlife and theenvironment.

Conclusion

Recommendations:

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We are sick of the industry bragging about theirsafety record when children are burying theirparents. Obviously, the status quo is not working.

“”

Jordan Barab, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

STOP MAKING THE PROBLEMWORSE

! End corporate subsidies for fossilfuel energy development. It is longpast time to stop dipping into thepockets of struggling Americantaxpayers and families to support theincomes of the most profitable multi-national companies in the world.

! Stop the new trend toward moredangerous and more pollutingdirty fuels. Traditional oil and gasdevelopment has a well known set ofsafety and environmental risks andthey need to be reduced. Theindustry’s new efforts to extract oiland gas from deep oceans, tar sands,deep tight shale formations, oil shale,or converting coal to a liquid fuel willnot only feed our continuing addictionto fossil fuels and stymie innovation,they will also increase health andsafety risks and pollution dramatically.

ACT NOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

! Pass comprehensive climate andenergy legislation in the U.S. It iscritical to begin holding oil and gas

companies accountable for doingtheir fair share to reduce pollution. Itwill help create a level playing fieldand an investment climate thatrewards and speeds privateinvestment in new, clean energytechnologies and fuels our economy.

! End our sole dependence on oil fortransportation. Today, 70% of theoil we use goes to fuel cars andtrucks, but the gasoline poweredinternal combustion engine is nowbeing replaced by new technologiesthat depend far less on oil. Byspeeding this transition, we can cutoil use rapidly in two decades whileimproving our quality of life.

! Keep making cars more fuel efficient by enacting and fully implementing strong and popular new fuel economy standards for cars and similar standards for medium and heavy duty trucks due over the next year. Protect EPA’s authority to regulate green house gas emissions which underpins these valuable standards.

! Facilitate the rapid adoption of new electric vehicles by retooling car plants with new technology and helping make electric cars and trucks affordable and convenient for households and businesses.

! Encourage businesses and the federal government to use hybrid and natural gas fueled heavy trucks, and develop advanced biofuels for aviation fuels.

! Invest in high speed rail andimproved transit and freightsystems to provide far better waysto move both people and freightwithin and between our cities.

! Help homes and businesses thatheat with oil to switch to cleanerfuels or more efficient furnaces.

There is no reason to sentence anothergeneration to cleaning up after theinevitable damage that comes fromongoing dependence on dirty fuels. We have the solutions today that moveus away from oil, while anchoring anew and prosperous economy. We onlyneed to act.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Report researched and written by Jack Doyle (J.D. Associates) and MiguelMejia (NWF). Contributors: George Ho, Tony Iallonardo, Felice Stadler, and Tim Warman.

National Wildlife Federation gratefullyacknowledges the Grace Cooper Harrison Trust and NWF members for their support of this project.

Report design by Barbara Raab Sgouros.

© 2010 National Wildlife Federation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PETROLEUM COMPANY INCIDENTS SINCE 2000, PLEASE VISIT

WWW.NWF.ORG/NEWS-AND-MAGAZINES/MEDIA-CENTER/REPORTS/ARCHIVE/2010/OIL-DISASTERS-REPORT.ASPX

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i http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2009/industries/20/index.htmlii http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/lobbying.php?cycle=2010&ind=E01 iii http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=American+Petroleum+Institute&year=2009iv http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/07/american-petroleum-institute-ramps-up-lobbying.htmlv http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?cycle=2010&ind=E01vi “Safety and Environmental Management Systems for Outer ContinentalShelf Oil and Gas Operations.” Federal Register 74 (17 June, 2009): 28642.viI U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials SafetyAdministration.http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/States.htm?nocache=84281 Jeff Nesmith and Ralph K.M. Haurwitz: “Pipelines: The Invisible Danger: 3Families killed in explosion form pipe that had clean bill of health. July 22,2002. Available at http://www.statesman.com/specialreports/content/sp...;accessed November 9, 2008. 2 SEMP, Biot Report #558, “Fatal Carlsbad, New Mexico, Natural Gas PipelineExplosion, 2000: Second Worst in US History,” November 09, 2008.http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=5583 U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, “Hazardous Liquid Pipe Failureand Leak, Marathon Ashland Pipe Line, LLC, Winchester, Kentucky, January27, 2000,” NTSB Report Number: PAB-01-02, adopted on 05/03/2001.http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/2001/PAB0102.htm4 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, Vol. 3, No. 4,July 2000, pp. 1-2. and “Oil Spills Throughout History,” Washington Post, April29, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/04/29/GA2010042903481.html5 Associated Press, “Weather Helps Protect Refuge from Oil DamageLouisiana: Winds push the Slick Away From Wildlife Conservation Site,”December 1, 2000; Associated Press, “Farm Scene: Oyster Farmers WorryAbout Impact of Oil Spill,” December 1, 2000; and, “Oil Spills ThroughoutHistory,” Washington Post, April 29, 2010.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/04/29/GA2010042903481.html6 U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, “Board IntensifiesInvestigation of Motiva Acid Tank Failure, Fire; Four Additional InvestigationTeam Members Deployed,”July 25, 2001.http://www.chemab.com/newsroom/detail.aspx?nid=70 7 U.S. Chemical Safety Board, “Motiva Enterprises Sulfuric Acid TankExplosion, Delaware City, DE. July 17, 2001.8 Jeff Nesmith and Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, “Spills and Explosions Reveal LaxRegulation of Powerful Industry,” American-Statesman (Austin, Texas),Sunday, July 22, 2001.http://www.statesman.com/specialreports/content/specialreports/pipelines/22pipecarlsbad.html9 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, Vol. 4, No.3,July 2001, pp.2-3.10 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, Vol. 4, No.3,July 2001, p.7.11 U.S. Minerals Management Service,http://www.gomr.mms.gov/PDFs/2002/2002-062.pdf12 “U.S. Coast Guard, Significant Spills From Tank Barges and Tank Ships,”Report on the Implementation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 2004, pp. 32-33, and, “Barge Accident Spills Gasoline into Ohio River,” AcuSafe IncidentNews, November 7, 2001.13 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, Vol. 4, No.6,July 2002, pp.6-7.14 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, Vol. 4, No.3,July 2001, p.7.15 Associated Press, “Arco Settles Lawsuit Over Drinking WaterContamination,” WaterTechOnline, December 18, 2002.

16 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, “Second Lawsuit Settled Over OrangeCounty, Calif., Fuel-Additive Leak,” February 12, 2003.17 Associated Press, “Shell Settles Orange County MTBE Suit,” January 10, 2005.18 Phuong Le, Associated Press, “Shell to Clean up 83 Gas Stations in Wash,”The Seattle Times, Tuesday, November 18, 2008.19 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, Vol. 4, No.4,January 2002, pp.4-5.20 South Coast Air Quality Management District, Diamond Bar, California,“AQMD Seeks $319 Million Fine from BP for Air Pollution Violations,” March 13,2003.21 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, Vol. 4, No.6,July 2002, p.6.22 U. S. National Transportation Safety Board, “Pipeline Accident Report:Rupture of Enbridge Pipeline and Release of Crude Oil near Cohasset,Minnesota, July 4, 2002,” NTSB Number PAR 04/01, NTIS Number PB2004916501.23 Anne Belli, “BP Flaws Unattended for Years, Report Says; Baker Panel SaysSafety Lapses Found at All Five U.s. Refineries,” Houston Chronicle, January17, 2007. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/blast/4475824.html24 Brooke A. Masters, “Explosion Rocks Staten Island Oil Facility; No Indicationof Terrorism, Authorities Say,” Washington Post, Friday, February 21, 2003.http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wpdyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A41213 2003Feb21&notFound=true25 Andy Newman, “U.S. Sues Barge Operator in Fatal 2003 Explosion,” NewYork Times, November 6, 2008.26 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, Vol. 4,No.6, July 2003, p.4.27 U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, “Pipeline Accident Report,Storage Tank Explosion and Fire in Glenpool, Oklahoma, April 7, 2003,” NTSBNumber PAR 04/02, NTIS Number PB2004 916502.28 National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,“Bouchard Barge 120– Buzzards Bay, MA,” IncidentNews.gov, April 27, 2003.http://www.incidentnews.gov/incident/105129 “Texas Eastern Transmission,”AcuSafe Incident News, November 2, 2003. 30 “Refinery Fire Kills Worker,”AcuSafe Incident News, December 18, 2003.31 Associated Press, “Tanker Truck Accident Starts Fire on I 95,” January 13,2004.32 National Transportation Safety Board, Highway Accident Brief, “TankerTruck Overturn and Fire Interstate 895 South, Near Elkridge, Maryland,January 13, 2004,” July 30, 2009, NTSB No. HAB 09/01.http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2009/HAB0901.htm33 Jesse Mckinley and Carolyn Marshall, “Tanker Truck Fire Collapses Bay AreaOverpass,” New York Times, April 30, 2007.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/us/30collapse.html?_r=134 Associated Press, “Fire Breaks Out at Cheyenne Refinery,” Billings Gazette,Sunday, January 18, 2004.35 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, January2005, p.3.36 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil Spill Program Update, January2005, p.7, and October 2005, p.2.37 National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,“M/V Athos I, Delaware River, New Jersey & Pennylvania,” IncidentNews.gov,November 27, 2004. http://www.incidentnews.gov/incident/123638 Daniel Schorn, CBS News “The Explosion At Texas City: 2005 RefineryExplosion In Texas Killed 15, Injured 170,” 60 Minutes, October 29, 2006.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/26/60minutes/main2126509.shtml39 Daniel Schorn, CBS News “The Explosion At Texas City: 2005 RefineryExplosion In Texas Killed 15, Injured 170,” 60 Minutes, October 29, 2006.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/26/60minutes/main2126509.shtml40 Daniel Schorn, CBS News “The Explosion At Texas City: 2005 RefineryExplosion In Texas Killed 15, Injured 170,” 60 Minutes, October 29, 2006.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/26/60minutes/main2126509.shtml41 U.S. Chemical Safety Board, News Release and “Statement of CSB ChairmanCarolyn W. Merritt,” October 31, 2006. See also, CSB’s BP Texas City Report,http://www.csb.gov/assets/document/CSBFinalReportBP.pdf

Endnotes

42 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Press Release, “United StatesAnnounces Clean Air Agreements with Valero and Sunoco; Two PetroleumRefiners to Reduce Harmful Emissions by 44,000 Tons Annually,” June 16,2005.43April E. Clark, “Tanker Truck Overturns, Spills on Dry Hollow Road South ofSilt,” Glenwood Springs Post Independent (Glenwood Springs, Colorodo), July12, 2005.44 Reuters, Houston, Texas, “Fatal U.S. Refinery Mishaps,” Saturday, April 3,2010.45 Lee Bergquist, “Oil Spill Tainted Water Table; Recent Pipeline Leak Seepedinto Deep Hole in Northern Wisconsin,” Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee,Wisconsin), February 16, 2007.http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29343664.html46 Associated Press, “Citgo Pleads Guilty to Violations in La. Oil Spill,”Wednesday, September 17, 2008.47 Associated Press, “Citgo Pleads Guilty to Violations in La. Oil Spill,”Wednesday, September 17, 2008.48 Felicity Barringer, “Large Oil Spill in Alaska Went Undetected for Days,” NewYork Times, March 15, 2006; Felicity Barringer, “Oil Spill Raises Concerns onPipeline Maintenance,” New York Times, March 20, 2006; and,”BP Fined $20Million for Pipeline Corrosion”, Anchorage Daily News, October 26, 2007.49 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Valero Refining Texas Agrees toResolve Alleged Violations Over Corpus Christi, Texas Oil Spill,” June 10, 2008.http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/8b770facf5edf6f185257359003fb69e/b4a9cb157a51ec7d85257464007354dd!OpenDocument&Start=1&Count=5&Expand=150 U.S. Chemical Safety Board, “CSB Issues Case Study on Fatal PartridgeRaleigh Oilfield Explosion in Mississippi; Recommends OSHA Program toInspect Oil and Gas Production Facilities,” June 12, 2007.51 Bruce Geiselman “Pipeline firms to pay for Kentucky oil spill,” Waste News,August 28, 2006.52 “Sunoco Has Philadelphia Spill,” The Oil Daily, October 17, 2006 and KYW-TVNews, Philadelphia, PA.53 Bob Liff, “Greenpoint Gas Leak Grows; Officials Hike Estimate of Latest Spill’sSize,” Newsday, May 4, 1988, p. 3.54 Elizabeth Kolbert, “Mobil To Pay Millions To Clean Up Vast Pool of OilBeneath Brooklyn,” New York Times, July 10, 1991, p. 1.55 Lee Bergquist, “Oil Spill Tainted Water Table,” Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee,Wisconsin), February 16, 2007.56 Greg Tuttle, “Firefighters Battle Flames After Explosion Rocks ExxonMobilRefinery,” Billings Gazette (Billings, Montana), Tuesday, October 16, 2007.57 U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, “Pipeline Accident Report:Rupture of Hazardous Liquid Pipeline With Release and Ignition of Propane,Carmichael, Mississippi, November 1, 2007,” NTSB Number: PAR 09/01; NTISNumber: PB2009 916501.58 Joy Powell, “2 Workers Die in Pipeline Fire Near Clearbrook,” Star Tribune(Minneapolis, MN), November 29, 2007.59 Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mineral ResourcesManagement, “Report on the Investigation of the Natural Gas Invasion ofAquifers in Bainbridge Township of Geauga County, Ohio,” September 1, 2008,153 pp., and, Abrahm Lustgarten, “Buried Secrets: Is Natural Gas DrillingEndangering U.S. Water Supplies?,” ProPublica.Org, November 13, 2008. 60 Associated Press, “West Texas Refinery Explodes,” February 18, 2008.http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331039,00.html 61 Steve Reagan, “Miracle On I-20: 5 Injured In Huge Explosion,” Big SpringHerald, February 19, 2008.http://www.bigspringherald.com/content/view/109967/60/ 62 David O. Williams, “State Backlogged with Gas Contamination Cases DatingBack Years,” The Colorado Independent, May 11, 2010.http://coloradoindependent.com63 Lewis Kelly, “The Dilemma of The Ponds: Tar Sands Tailings Ponds Remain anEnvironmental Quagmire,” VueWeekly.com, April 2008.http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=15047http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Syncrude+lawyer+makes+case/3041058/story.html#ixzz0oWHGli3g64 Timoney, K and Lee, Peter, “Does the Alberta Tar Sands Industry Pollute?The Scientific Evidence,” The Open Conservation Biology Journal, 2009, 3.

65 Jim Moscou, “A Toxic Spew? Officials Worry About Impact of ‘Fracking’ of Oiland Gas,” Newsweek.com, August 20, 2008, and, Abrahm Lustgarten, “BuriedSecrets: Is Natural Gas Drilling Endangering U.S. Water Supplies?,”ProPublica.org, November 13, 2008. 66 NOAA, “Month Long Response Continues for New Orleans Oil Spill,”NOAAWatch, Oil Spill Headlines, Tuesday, August 26, 2008.http://www.noaawatch.gov/headlines/oilspill.php67 Clair Johnson, “Refinery Trying to Find Cause of Tank Fire,” Billings Gazette(Billings, Montana), Monday, December 28, 2009, and Clair Johnson,“ConocoPhillips Identifies Cause of Christmas Eve Fire,” Billings Gazette, Friday,February 19, 2010. 68 Laura Legere, “Nearly a Year After a Water Well Explosion, Dimock Twp.Residents Thirst for Gas Well Fix,” The Times Tribune (Scranton, PA), October26, 2009. 69 Ben Winslow and Jacob Hancock, “Refinery Explosion Injures 4; HomesEvacuated,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), Monday, January 12, 2009.Amy Joi O’Donoghue, “Refinery Tank Was Repaired Before Fire,” DeseretNews, Saturday, January 31, 2009. 70 News story from WVUE Fox 8, New Orleans, Louisiana, July 28, 2009; U.S.Coast Guard, Eugene Island News Release, July 29, 2009; MineralsManagement Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Gulf of Mexico Region,“OCS-Related Incidents – Spills, 2009,” Shell Pipeline Company, Inc., July 25,2009. See also, National Response Center, Report # 912739 and NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Incident News, #8061.71 Robbie Brown, “Deaths Draw Attention to Dangers of Oil Tanks,” New YorkTimes, April 12, 2010.72 “Bushland Pipeline Explosion,” November 5, 2009.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6707144.html 73 Editorial, “Penalty for Sunoco Has a Foul Smell,” Daily Times (DelawareCount, PA), Wednesday, January 6, 2010.http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2010/01/06/opinion/doc4b440a7df2a15016681642.txt74 Editorial, “Penalty for Sunoco Has a Foul Smell,” Daily Times (DelawareCount, PA), Wednesday, January 6, 2010.http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2010/01/06/opinion/doc4b440a7df2a15016681642.txt75 Associated Press, “4 Hurt, 3 Missing in Blast, Fire at WA Refinery,” New YorkTimes, April 2, 2010 and, Associated Press, “Refinery Where 7 Killed LikelyClosed Through June,” Skagit Valley Herald, May 1, 2010.http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com76 Environmental News Service,”160 Square Mile Oil Spill Fouls Mississippi DeltaWildlife Refuge,” Louisiana, April 7, 2010, and, http://www.incidentnews.gov/entry/52595877 Associated Press, “Some oil spill events from Sunday, July 18, 2010,” July 18,2010. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i-yfHJzPLDeBIhG5JDEF6VbaPR8QD9H1RTL0078 David R. Baker, “Electrical Arc May Have Caused Utah Oil Spill,” San FranciscoChronicle, Tuesday, June 15, 2010.

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INSPIRING AMERICANS TO PROTECT WILDLIFE FOR OUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE.

National Wildlife Federation

11100 Wildlife Center Drive

Reston, VA 20190

703-438-6000

www.nwf.org

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