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Oil Spill Into Escambia River Near Century; Cleanup Underway
January 10, 2014
Over 100 gallons of crude oil was spilled into a creek that flows into the Escambia River Thursday morning from Quantum Resource Management’s processing facility near Jay.
According to the Florida Department of Environmental Management, up to 126 gallons of crude oil overflowed from a holding pit at the facility. The oil drained into a nearby creek that flows into the Escambia River near Century. The incident was reported to Santa Rosa County 911 just after 5:00 a.m. and reported to the DEP a short time later.
About 1:30 this afternoon, a NorthEscambia.com staff member reported the area around Fischer Landing in Century had a strong smell similar to diesel fuel and large “mats” of what appeared to be oil were floating downriver near the bank, away from the strong current in the middle of the river. Some of the mats were reported to be 10 by 20 feet in size or greater.
A cleanup crew, identifying themselves as being from SWS Environmental Services, was on the river with absorbent boom and other materials in their boats. Another pile of the absorbent boom was stockpiled onshore at the landing. None of the boom was deployed during a 20 minute period the NorthEscambia.com staffer was on scene.
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County said the oil spill posed no public health danger and there was no danger from fish caught in the river.
Josh Wannarka, director of investor relations for Quantum, released the following statement Thursday afternoon:
“At Quantum, protection of the environment is important to us. The recent unprecedented cold snap damaged some of our equipment at the Jay Plant, which led to a release of approximately 3 barrels of oil. The release was discovered around 3:30 this morning. Immediately upon discovery of this situation, we activated our response plan and responded with all available means to contain and recover this oil. The source of the release is now under control. Recovery efforts continue at this time in coordination with local and state agencies. We do not believe this situation presents a threat to the public or the environment.”
Several state and local agencies were still accessing the situation Thursday afternoon with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection overseeing the response.
““The company reported to state regulators that 126 gallons of oil was spilled, some of which has made its way into the Escambia River. Quantum has brought in several companies to remove the material from the waterway. Since the Escambia River’s waters impact Escambia County, we are keeping a close eye on the situation,” Escambia County Emergency Management Director John Dosh said. “Escambia County will continue to monitor the cleanup effort and coordinate with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in case the situation requires more action from Escambia County.”
More details will be posted as they become available.
Editor’s note: Three barrels of oil equals 126 gallons.
Pictured: A cleanup crew at Fischer Landing at Century Thursday afternoon as large areas of what appeared to be oil could be see floating down the river. NorthEscambia photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
26 Responses to “Oil Spill Into Escambia River Near Century; Cleanup Underway”
@Hypocrite
Sure if you are going to spend 100k to clean it up when you do! Ohh, you were talking about just pouring it in and leaving it because your a HYPOCRITE right!
@Randy
If you read the story, I said that boating on the river annually puts out more spills than this (not one boat, but the combination throughout the year).
To get it straight, I am not supporting the spill and I am not against the environment. Thing is, that is the industry we all depend on and these minor things happen. Things like this happen to you as well, ever been the person at fault in a fender bender, etc? I am saying that they jumped on the cleanup without being forced to do so and are attempting to make their mechanical malfunction right!
that is a good point #JUSTME….330am is too early to rise
126 gallons escaped from the facility into the river and everyone wants to hang the company. Have you considered the amount of gas oil mix that’s placed into that same river by boaters. How about all the run off from the cars you drive around with oil and transmission leaks. The spills you commit at the gas station where you over fill the cars gas tank. You ever wonder where that goes when it rains. It all ends up in the ditches that leads to the creeks and rivers. If you calculate all that contamination generated by that, it would be thousands of times the amount that has entered from the Quantum plant. So just think about your contribution to pollution in the rivers next time you blast a oil company.
Don’t forget about trash, that’s pollution too. Seems the river is full of personal trash, nobody ever raises hell about that. Do they ?
@sue-“If you were to spill a gallon of milk on your kitchen floor at 330am do you start cleaning it up right then or wait an hour an half for someone else to clean up your mess???”
I’d leave it, and get back in the bed, my wife would clean it up when she gets up…
That’s just me!!
@ common sense
Makes sense to me. So we should all dump our oil in the river.
It doesn’t hurt anything being in there. RIGHT?????
We should be ashamed of ourselves, with the millions of gallons of Alabama paper-mill effluent, the City of Century’s sewage outfall, and now preventable discharges of oil from the Jay refinery.
This is our river, a great god given natural resource. We are lucky to have such a place to fish and enjoy. We need to stop fussing and just do what is right.
You guys might want to trade those boats in if your losing that much oil out of them?
Excuse my dang iPhone auto spelling ;;;Park your cars and walk. If you don’t like the oil fields then walk, call Obama and get on your free stuff because there is 10s of thousands that depend on the job,, everything from surveyors to, yea even a cell phone making. These people responded and cleaned up. No harm left to cry over,, you pullute the waters a lot more than this did ,,Yea I work offshore I see the rules and regulations they have to go by , but sometimes a accident does happen.
Well said #commonsense…..I couldn’t agree more ;o)
You guys are on here acting like this was a BP like spill. This has caused a slight sheen in which no one would have even noticed if the company hadnt done the right thing and began cleanup efforts. Boats going up and down the river cause more polution annually than this spill. Runoff from YOUR OWN vehicles cause more polution. Get a clue you hypocritical morons. Most oil companies are more environmentally friendly than any of you posting on here. Have you every over filled your gas tank and had some run out on the ground, yes, and you drove off didnt you. Oil companies will spend a thousand dollars to clean something like that up to keep you hypocrits happy!
Hey Jane if you spill a gallon of milk in your kitchen are you gonna wait an hour & a half later for someone else to clean up your mess?
@well on – how do you suppose they get the boom in front of the oil to contain the mess? In your expert opinion should they just toss it out from the rivier bank and hope for the best??? Right that would help…
@RB- You are right…..they have emergency spill stations on site, even down stream in spill containment boxes for a quick reponse in such an emergency. They have more emergency spill kits/equipment than a certain -xxon company ever had in all the years they ran that facility. Sounds like somebody has been around oil before, it is good to here a knowledgeable opinion on the article.
@Jane-so critical, you cover a well or 2 pipes in your yard… very impressive. Have you ever steeped foot inside an oil plant??? It is a spaghetti-factory of pipe over head and underground, most are insulated some have steam hoses on them, but how do you propose they cover or protect a pipe underground, under water from freezing then cracking. This was not human error, mechanical failures happen in that industry. If you were to spill a gallon of milk on your kitchen floor at 330am do you start cleaning it up right then or wait an hour an half for someone else to clean up your mess??? I do not support pollution of any kind but try using some common sense while reading the above article. Sounds like the proper measure were taken employees were there and called out in the
middle of the night b/c that is their job. Agencies were informed in a timely manner and addition clean up crews were brought in for back up. Sad only mistakes are reported on never the good deeds….
I previously worked in the oil field. I am sure there was an emergency response trailer on hand with materials to clean up the oil and I am sure the oil was cleaned up as quickly as possible. There are MANY rules and regulations that these companies follow every day to protect the environment. They were probably aware of the cold and probably prepared for it but there are many mechanical parts in that facility and sometimes you can not prevent mechanical failure. I am sure there will be many fines to pay for Quantum more then their fair share of fines. The government agencies know there is money in the oil field and will get their hands on as much as they can.
At least they were keeping count, if not there could have been 10,000 galllons lost.
Gee, we had a weather report ahead of time telling us that it would be cold….people covered pipes, etc. And a company didn’t have enough sense to protect it’s equipment? Not too smart. If it isn’t a hazard, why were they out trying to clean it up before someone found out?
They better throw the book at them. . . Accident or not. . . Or it’s just going to happen again.
Down stream emergency spill station would be a good idea. Spill equipment on site for a quick response to such a incident. SWS Environmental Services response was hours away from incident most likely. Secondary containment would be another good idea with wetlands and streams so close to production facilities. You can not cover every possible scenario but this seems to be a critical one. EPA may seek fines for such a incident after their investigation is completed.
Half the oil or more gone before responders made it. Wild life will start floating soon.
Don’t oil spill make it unsafe to eat the fish?????
Its gonna be ok there’s more oil floating in the bay than what got out over there
That oil boom is not doing much good riding around in a boat or sitting on the bank.
you break it, you fix it.
How could the cold snap be unprecedented? We have records going back decades that show such low temperatures have occurred here before. Those records are the precedent.
Any oil spilled is a threat to the environment! It may be small but small amounts add up over time.