Chevron officials continue to tabulate a damage estimate for a ruptured pipeline that leaked petroleum into the city's storm drain and an industrial canal a week ago.
"The cost of this is kind of secondary. What we're most interested in is the long-term effects . . . " said Rich Gibson, incident commander and emergency response coordatinator for Chevron USA.Workers discovered the leak, about the size of a pencil lead, near 1100 North and east of I-15 on March 4 after several days of searching by both Amoco Oil and Chevron workers.
The line carries low-sulphur diesel from the Chevron refinery to the neighboring Amoco facility and doesn't operate full time, Gibson said, making it a little more difficult to determine the exact amount of leakage. He expected the company to have the final leak totals this week.
The 4-inch pipe was apparently scarred and damaged by outside excavation in the area, Gibson said.
"We've made the repairs to the line" and are making final welds, he said.
The company plans to refit the grass where their trucks were parked in a local soccer field and put in remediation trenches in the event of future seepage, he said.
The oil sheen was first spotted in the canal March 1. The waterway eventually winds into the Great Salt Lake after surfacing at the northwest end of the Jordan River State Park and passing through Davis County. Wildlife officials initially reported seeing a sheen on the lake's surface in the early stages of the leak, but Gibson said he doesn't believe the petroleum made it that far.
Ted Diamont, the emergency response coordinator for the Salt Lake County Health Department, had earlier said the oil may have made it to the lake before the leak was noticed.