Problems
A crack in a repair sleeve installed on the gas pipe
The 2020 colonial pipeline oil spill was a significant gasoline release from the Colonial Pipeline in a nature reserve near Huntersville, North Carolina, in the United States. The spill, which began on July 27, resulted in approximately 2,000,000 U.S. gallons (7,600,000 L) of gasoline discharge and led to a cleanup effort that is still ongoing and expected to continue for several years. The cause of the leak was a crack in a repair sleeve that had been installed on the pipe in 2004. According to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) document from 2013, Colonial owns and operates approximately 5,500 miles of large-diameter pipelines that carry a range of petroleum products. Their service area extends from Houston, Texas, to Linden, New Jersey, at the New York harbor. They are the most extensive refined petroleum products system in the U.S. and the world, transporting more than 104,000,000 gallons (2,500,000 barrels) of gasoline, heating oil, and aviation fuel daily. They carry 45 percent of the gasoline and jet fuel for the eastern United States. The spill was the largest onshore gasoline spill in U.S. history. In 2020, there were 578 oil and biofuel pipeline incidents in the U.S., resulting in 43,157 barrels spilled. The fall released benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, and possibly other petroleum chemicals that exceeded groundwater quality standards. In addition, to minimize and encapsulate flammable vapors at the spill, the response team used a compound containing per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS chemicals are highly persistent in the environment and have been associated with liver damage, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, high cholesterol, obesity, hormone suppression, and cancer. Tests of 39 PFAS chemicals taken on-site show levels that are hundreds and even thousands of times greater than state and federal drinking water standards. Despite these lab samples, Colonial has asserted to NCDEQ that their compound was PFAS-free. In 2021, about ten months after the leak was discovered, Colonial was crippled by a ransomware attack that caused the pipeline to shut down, leading to fuel shortages and long lines at gas stations. The cleanup effort of the 2020 oil spill is still ongoing and is expected to continue for several years.
Gallery
4
Timelines
2022
July 07
Mecklenburg County Superior Court judge Kimberly Best approved the settlement of the state lawsuit over the spill. Colonial Pipeline will pay almost $5 million in penalties and take extensive steps to assess and repair the damage under the settlement. The settlement requires Atlanta-based Colonial to pay a $4.5 million civil liability plus $250,000 in investigative costs and other fines.
2021
May 05
NCDEQ issued an additional Notice of Continuing Violation to Colonial. This time, Colonial must provide revised estimates of the total volume spilled by May 28, 2021.
April 19
Colonial indicated that the spill estimate of 1.2 million gallons may be revised upward, yet again because of additional fuel found in deeper pockets in the soil. However, they have not yet provided value. Media have speculated that the number may be considerably higher than the 1.2 million gallons.
February 24
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) issued a Notice of Continuing Violation to Colonial, critical of the company’s insufficiencies in their Comprehensive Site Assessment that made determining the full impact of the spill.
2020
August 14
Local and state response agencies and Colonial Pipeline were notified of a smell of gasoline associated with an underground pipeline just outside the town limits at the Oehler Nature Preserve off Huntersville-Concord Road. A month later, the 48-hour estimate of 63,000 gallons was revised to 272,580 gallons released.