Source: http://blog.al.com, March 21, 2013
By: Ben Raines
Mobile Gas failed to report its 2008 mercaptan spill in Prichard’s Eight Mile community to the National Response Center as required by federal law.
Anytime a company spills a “reportable quantity” of a listed hazardous substance into the environment, federal officials must be notified, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. For mercaptan, the reportable quantity is 100 pounds.
Deposition testimony from a Mobile Gas employee and a member of the cleanup crew hired by the company suggest as much as 6,000 pounds of mercaptan may have been spilled in Prichard’s Eight Mile community.
Once the National Response Center has been notified, the EPA swings into action, dispatching inspection teams, addressing potential risks to the public, and devising a cleanup plan.
Instead of reporting the spill to the federal agencies, Mobile Gas hired the Complete Environmental and Remediation Company to dig a hole three feet deep at the spill site. The crew dug up about 60 cubic feet of dirt in all, according to the deposition testimony, or about as much dirt as would fit in the bed of a full-size pickup truck, according to AL.com calculations.
Mobile Gas did not respond directly to a series of AL.com questions about the spill and the company’s response. Instead, officials sent a statement that did not address any of the AL.com questions.
“Mobile Gas continues, in the process of litigation, to investigate the allegations made concerning the 2008 mercaptan release, including the cleanup,” read a statement from Mobile Gas. “In light of the on-going investigation and litigation, and despite misleading and factually inaccurate or incomplete reporting by the press, Mobile Gas believes that it is not appropriate – for all parties involved – to try this case in the media.”
In April of 2012, when the spill first gained public attention, Mobile Gas stated the company had, “reported the release to ADEM and they advised that it was not a reportable incident.”
But officials with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management said the company never revealed how much mercaptan had been spilled.
“We do not have any records where Mobile Gas reported the release of a specific quantity of mercaptan in 2008,” said Scott Hughes, with ADEM.
Mobile Gas told ADEM that a lightning strike had caused an underground pipe to rupture, spilling mercaptan. When the utility hired the Complete Environmental and Remediation Company to dig the hole, the cleanup crew was told that ADEM deemed the spill non-hazardous and wanted the company “to clean it up to the best of their ability,” according to the deposition of Kevin Dees, a supervisor with the environmental company.
While ADEM has no record of the amount spilled, Mobile Gas told the cleanup crew that about 1,050 pounds had been spilled, Dees said.
The smell of mercaptan was so overwhelming when Complete Environmental arrived to dig up the contaminated dirt that the crew wore gas masks. Mobile Gas told the crew where to dig and when to stop digging, according to Dees. Dees said that if he had been told Mobile Gas spilled thousands of pounds of mercaptan over many months he would have advised them to hire an engineering firm to define the extent of the spill.
Mobile Gas records revealed during an ongoing lawsuit filed by residents of Eight Mile show that the company cannot account for 6,000 pounds of mercaptan that disappeared from a storage tank between January and June of 2008, when the company reported the lightning strike.
“We dug until we come into some water,” reads the deposition of Jerry Wilson, another Complete Environmental employee. You can read the deposition here: JerryWilsonExcerpts3-15-13.pdf.
The water table at the site is extremely shallow Wilson said. AL.com found numerous small springs in the area during an inspection of the site. The smell in the community emanates from a small spring located in the woods just downhill from the Mobile Gas facility.
After hitting water, Mobile Gas said “we had dug enough.” Wilson said the hole was 3 feet deep, 2 feet wide, and about 10 feet long at that point. The Complete Environmental crew was sent home.
Mobile Gas did not respond to AL.com questions seeking information about who filled in the hole and whether any soil or water testing was conducted at that time. In its statement, Mobile Gas wrote that the company “consulted with and retained environmental consulting and remediation companies to address that release.”
Wilson said that if the spill were known to have occurred over several months, the cleanup would have been more extensive and more complicated. The EPA or ADEM would have been in charge of the cleanup, instead of Mobile Gas, he said.
“They would have had different guidelines. They would have called in engineers to do testing, soil testing,” Wilson said. “And it would have been a much more extensive job than it was.”

Failure to properly report a spill as required under federal Superfund law carries fines up to $500,000 and prison sentences of three years or more. Anyone in charge of a facility that fails to report a spill, or “submits information that he or she knows is false and misleading is subject to these penalties,” according to federal law.
The pervasive odor of mercaptan has plagued the Eight Mile community for more than a year, becoming especially heavy at night, when it invades homes.
Residents complain of a variety of health issues typical of mercaptan exposure, including nausea, headaches, breathing difficulties, dizziness, confusion, eye irritation and other problems.
EPA officials said Thursday that it was their understanding that Mobile Gas had still not accepted full responsibility for the odor in the community. In October, ADEM cited the company for failing to initiate a required investigation and cleanup into the contamination. At the time, Mobile Gas sent out a press release that stated“it has not been determined who is responsible for causing the odor.”
For months after the spill enveloped Eight Mile, Mobile Gas spokeswoman Kesshia Davis repeatedly stated that the odor had nothing to do with the company’s facility and was nowhere near the gas lines. At one point, she suggested someone might have buried mercaptan in the community.