A decades - old pipelinespilled 315,000 gallons(1.2 million litre ) of Rudolf Diesel into an environmentally sensitive area in Louisiana last calendar month , toss off thousands of animals , the AP reported Thursday . The spillage find a little over a year after a rubber review line up that the line was severely corroded — but the grapevine ’s proprietor chose to delay mending and keep it operable .
papers from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration ( PHMSA ) , which were first reported by the AP , show that a rupture in the Meraux Pipeline was discovered in late December at the Chalmette Refinery in St. Bernard Parish , just outside of New Orleans . ( The rift has n’t been reported until now ) . official say most of the diesel motor fuel spilled into storage pond around the pipeline , but some also get into the soil and environmentally sensitive habitats nearby .
There have n’t been any human casualties as a result of the spill , but “ thousands ” of animals , include 32 fowl , 39 Snake , and more than 2,000 fish , are dead , according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife . Most of the diesel motor has been pick up , official say , but the company that owns the grapevine is still influence . lots of animals , including more than 70 alligators , as well as a compendium of birds , snake in the grass , and turtles , were touch by the tumble and sent to “ rehabilitation . ”
Cleanup work at the pipeline site.Photo: Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (AP)
The Meraux Pipeline , which transports diesel motor fuel over 125 mil ( 200 kilometers ) from New Orleans to a repositing terminus in Mississippi , is more than 40 years erstwhile and operated by Collins Pipeline Co. PHMSA documents show a safety inspection from October 2020 found that a 22 - pes ( 7 - m ) section of the pipeline was corrode — right around where this class ’s spill was found . That inspection find that 75 % of the alloy was corroded , which normally would mandate immediate reparation . However , Collins decided to keep the word of mouth operational and delay haunt after another review reassessed the damage and allowed it to bide in inspection and repair .
Last October , a representative from the owner of Collins Pipeline , PBF Energy , sent an email to PHMSA noting that the caller had repaired a unlike section of pipeline but was still wait for approval to go ahead and fix the corrode stretch in St. Bernard Parish . The poor conditions of the pipeline are n’t just a late developing , though . In 2011 , federal regulators open up an enforcement against Collins Pipeline , charging that the company was n’t perform external corrosion mental testing on equipment often enough .
“ It ’s especially maddening to learn that Collins Pipeline ’s initial psychoanalysis deemed the pipe in such poor condition that it warranted an prompt stamping ground , ” Bill Caram , the executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust , told the AP .
The owner of the line , PBF Energy , is not as placeable a name as some other oil and gas companies . But since its formation in 2008 , PBF has acquired refineries from Big Oil players ; its holdings currently include facilities once owned byValero , Sunoco , Shell , andExxon . In 2016 , two PBF - owned refinery werenamed in a composition from Amazon Watchas some of the U.S. refineries that process Amazon crude oil colour — which isespecially damagingto the rain forest — alongside refineries owned by Shell , Exxon , Chevron , and Phillips 66 .
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