Blewett Pass gasoline spill

(Information on this site is considered to be accurate at the time of posting, but is subject to change as new information becomes available.)

Semi truck accident on Blewett Pass that resulted in a spill of 1,659 gallons of gasoline to fractured rock that makes up the soil. The truck landed in a ditch on its side and the trailer was in the road. The site is mostly fractured rock, so NRC and Ecology will continue monitoring the creek for some time to make sure the gasoline does not make it to the creek.

Summary information

Date of incident:  December 6, 2010
Location:

Blewett Pass, Hwy 97
Near mile post # 168

Type of incident: Gasoline spill (1,659 gallons)
Cause of incident: Under Investigation
Responsible party: General Transport, Grandview, WA
Semi truck accident on Blewett Pass

Semi truck accident on Blewett Pass that resulted in a spill of 1,659 gallons of gasoline to fractured rock that makes up the soil. The truck landed in a ditch on its side and the trailer was in the road.

Status updates

December 29, 2010

Farallon and NRCES, contractors for General Transport, visited the spill site on Tronsen Creek Wednesday December 29.  Inspection of the creek and boom did not find obvious signs of sheen or product present.  Surface water samples were again collected and have been sent to the lab for analysis.   Lab results for samples previously collected on December 23 show no detections of GRO or BTEX above laboratory reporting limits.  Extremely heavy weather, snow and ice, are limiting operations at the site.    

December 21, 2010

Farallon Consulting, a contractor for General Transport, visited the site on December 17 to develop a monitoring well. Groundwater was present, a sample was collected and it will be analyzed to determine any gasoline content. Sampling results are pending.  National Response Corporation Environmental Services (NRCES), a contractor for General Transport, visited the site on December 20 to monitor the stream and inspect the booms placed in the creek. Neither sheen nor product was evident. Both NRCES and Farallon will visit the site on December 23 to inspect the stream and gather more samples.   

December 16, 2010

The installation of the reconnaissance boring (well) will proceed today.  Due to heavy weather and safety concerns, excavation activities will be delayed until further notice. A visual inspection of Tronsen Creek continues to show no fuel in the water.

December 15, 2010

No operations at the General Transport Spill on Blewett Pass today due to heavy weather and safety concerns. However, plans are being completed for excavations and a reconnaissance boring this week, hopefully Thursday, weather permitting. Further updates will be distributed as conditions change. 

December 10, 2010

NRC personnel continued daily visits to the scene to inspect Trosen Creek. There has been no petroleum sheen detected in the creek to date.  The slope near the creek is being inspected for oil weeping and nothing has been observed.  Precautionary adsorbent booms are in place in the creek and will be maintained and inspected regularly.  Due to recent heavy snowfall in the area, boom locations using GPS and 8-foot orange PVC locator stakes. 

Water samples are being collected periodically and analyzed for BTEX and gasoline and diesel range hydrocarbons and to date all analytical results have returned as non-detect.

Farallon Consulting is investigating subsurface geologic and hydrogeologic features and is mapping the area.  This information will subsequently be used to evaluate oil removal and recovery options.

December 7, 2010

The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) and contractors from National Response Corporation (NRC) were on the scene Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 6 and Dec. 7, 2010, of a semi truck accident on Blewett Pass that resulted in a spill of 1,659 gallons of gasoline to fractured rock that makes up the soil.

The semi truck, owned by General Transport out of Grandview, WA. slid off the road Monday at approximately 8 a.m. on Hwy 97, spilling the gasoline from a tank that was ruptured in the accident.

The truck landed in a ditch on its side and the trailer was in the road. By late afternoon Monday the road was reopened for traffic.

The truck carried two tanks—one for gasoline and one for diesel. The diesel tank did not rupture. On Monday, NRC pumped all the gasoline and diesel from the tanks and removed it from the site, along with the truck and trailer. The diesel tank carried 4,700 gallons, while the gas tank carried 5,700 gallons of fuel.

Tuesday, both Ecology and NRC were back on-scene, exploring options for cleaning up the gasoline that settled into rocky soil at the site. Ecology spill responder Mark Layman reported that he saw no evidence of gasoline in nearby Swauk Creek.  However, the contractor installed absorbent boom in the creek in case any of the gasoline made its way to the water.

According to Layman, the site is mostly fractured rock, so NRC and Ecology will continue monitoring the creek for some time to make sure the gasoline does not make it to the creek.

Media contact

Ty Keltner, Media contact, ty.keltner@ecy.wa.gov, 360-407-6990