SALT LAKE CITY — Some of the most strident critics of Chevron in the wake of the company's June pipeline spill are expressing even more disgust with the company now that oil is flowing again — two months after a second failure of the same system.
"I am appalled they can get away with this," said Alyssa Kay, who said her 4-year-old son suffered multiple and severe health impacts as a result of the June 12 spill, adding that the restart is a "disgusting display of profit over people."
Kay said it's wrong for the pipeline to resume operations before all impacts of the June breach have been addressed.
"Now, before they've even finished cleaning up the mess from the first spill, Chevron announces they are reopening this troubled section of pipeline without even releasing any information to the public regarding whatever 'safety improvements' they've made," Kay said.
Peter Hayes, another resident who lives in the Red Butte Creek area and a member of the Citizens Response Committee, said Tuesday's restart of the pipeline marks a "very sad day in the history of disaster management" in Utah, and Chevron has done "absolutely nothing" to prevent another spill at Red Butte Creek, like what happened in June.
In that incident, investigators concluded that a fierce summer storm blew a tree into an overhead power line, resulting in an electrical arc that burned a hole in the 10-inch in diameter pipeline about the size of a quarter. The leak of 33,000 gallons of spilled crude oil went undetected until the next morning, contaminating Red Butte Creek and flowing into the pond at Liberty Park. A segment of the Jordan River was also shut down to the public for several weeks while cleanup efforts continued.
Many residents were displaced as a result of the accident because of fumes or the inconvenience of cleanup that occurred on property that abutted the riparian waterway.
A long-term remediation plan is in place and while Red Butte Creek has been restored to normal stream flows, restorative work will continue along the creek. The Liberty Park pond remains closed because of improvements that will be made to its lining.
Some of the community furor over the pipeline's spill had begun to abate when a second, but substantially smaller release of oil happened again, just 500 feet from the original spill site adjacent to Red Butte Gardens.
In the Dec. 1 instance, federal regulators fined Chevron and issued a corrective action order because of the company's failure to take proper steps to ensure the pipeline system was safely operational.
Prior to startup after the June spill, Chevron conducted a pressure test of the system with a flush of chemicals. Not all the liquid residue was removed, however, and when sub-freezing temperatures hit in December, a valve cracked and led to the spill of 10,500 gallons of oil.
Hayes says that the threat of Chevron's pipeline to the downstream Salt Lake area is akin to what happened in December in Mexico, where thieves broke a hole in an oil pipeline to try to siphon it off in what has become an increasingly common practice among drug cartels.
At some point as the oil traveled downstream, a spark caused an explosion that led to deaths of 28 people.
Chevron spokesman Mickey Driver said the company has made extensive improvements to its monitoring system, with the installation of cameras throughout key segments of the line and is conducting foot patrols throughout the startup operation period to assure "eyes-on" integrity of the pipeline.
He said he couldn't immediately speak to the nature of the Mexico incident, but says it is likely it was a different type of oil because the crude oil Chevron conveys from Rangley, Colo., is not that flammable. Driver added that such an incident is extremely unlikely given that the Parleys segment of the pipeline is "most monitored" pipeline in the country.
But, Driver said he understands why people are troubled.
"Once again we would like to apologize to the citizens of Salt Lake City," he said. "These two oil leaks inside the city are something the citizens certainly should be concerned about because they are not supposed to happen. … We are making a promise we are going to regain your trust through all these new procedures we have in place."
E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com