Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 2, 2012
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
An estimated 9,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked from a Shell Oil Co. pipeline at Mitchell International Airport in late January and a contractor will begin excavating near a taxiway early Friday in search of the pipe break, a Shell spokesperson said Thursday.
The work will require the closing of the airport’s north-south runway on Friday, but flight traffic will not be disrupted, airport officials said. All flights will use the east-west runway during excavation.
The pipeline was shut down and drained of remaining fuel earlier this week, Shell representative Kelly op de Weegh said.
The fuel flowed into a drainage channel and storm sewer at the airport where it entered Wilson Park Creek, a tributary of the Kinnickinnic River.
Cleanup crews have placed floating booms along the creek and river to contain the spread of the fuel, op de Weegh said. Vacuum trucks in several locations continued skimming fuel from the surface of the waterways on Thursday.
The booms stopped the fuel from reaching Lake Michigan, op de Weegh said. The booms will remain in place until the pipeline investigation and repairs are completed.
Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are monitoring cleanup activities.
Air monitoring along the creek and river has not detected unhealthful levels of toxic chemicals from the fuel, according to op de Weegh.