La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Spill responders have completed the emergency response to the Dec. 10, 2023, gasoline spill from the Olympic Pipeline in Conway.

The Unified Command leading the operation has ensured that no additional gasoline is seeping into nearby Hill Ditch, and is confident in turning the site over to the Washington Department of Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program. That agency will oversee any remaining remediation work.

The Unified Command includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington Department of Ecology, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Lummi Nation, Skagit County Department of Emergency Management, and bp, which operates the Olympic pipeline. With the conclusion of emergency response operations, the Unified Command has disbanded.

"On behalf of bp, I'd like to express my appreciation to the community of Conway for their patience and support as we worked to respond to the incident. We also thank responding agencies and crews who worked diligently to clean the area. We deeply regret that the incident happened," Incident Commander Terry Zimmerman said in a news release.

"I would like to acknowledge the responders' efforts to contain the spill and mitigate impacts to the environment and nearby community. I am grateful for the understanding shown by the community of Conway during the response effort," said Monica Tonel, EPA On-Scene Coordinator.

"This phase marks an important end to a long, complicated response," said Madeline Fritzen, State On-Scene Coordinator. "I want to thank all the responders who have put in long hours over the last several months. That said, there is still more work to do, and the Department of Ecology will be here until the job is done."

"I am grateful for the team effort put forward during the response phase by numerous tribes, local, state, and federal agencies," said one of the Tribal On-Scene Coordinator Keri Cleary. "The coordination between so many different entities during clean-up was impressive. It was a very positive experience in how unified command should work during an event, and we all learned a lot. Everyone made sure that tribal representation was present and their concerns were heard from day one."

Updates:

Approximately 21,168 gallons of gasoline was determined to have spilled, with 8,324 gallons of gasoline recovered.

332,776 gallons of oily water was recovered and disposed of.

Nearly 1.1 million gallons of water was treated for contamination and returned to Hill Ditch.

11,973 cubic yards of soil was removed from the affected area.

The cofferdam has been removed following the removal of contaminated soil along the bank of Hill Ditch.

Sampling downstream of the spill site has shown no concentrations of gasoline-related contaminants harmful to humans, pets, or the environment since January 19, 2024.

Nearby residential wells have shown no indication of contamination.

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission are investigating the cause, and the actions taken to stop the discharge. The results of those investigations will be publicly available once completed.

Source: Washington State Department of Ecology