Toxic Task Force

by Christine Nelson

Unfortunately, it took a tragic accident, claiming the life of one man and severely injuring another, to widely broadcast the stark fact that petroleum groundwater contamination is near Comanche Creek and the Otterson Dr. area.

This awareness first emerged for the Neighbors For Environmental and Fiscal Responsibility (NEFR) through a letter from Air Quality Planner, Gail Williams, written on June 21, 2000. Even though the City Council had a copy of the letter warning of the risk of air and water petroleum pollution, they chose to ignore it. NEFR tried to bring up the concerns but the Council majority brushed them aside.

Three south Chico businesses have been living with underground petroleum spills for many years. Kinder Morgan Chico Terminal, also known as the tank farm, has a plume that that has moved toward residences south of Hegan lane and may extend into the strip of land that divides it from the Hegan Lane industrial zone. It is now being monitored by specially placed wells. The other two businesses sit side by side on the Midway—Jesse Lange Distributing and Western Petroleum Marketers. Both have a long history of lack of compliance with California Regional Water Quality Control Board regulators.

When the explosion took place at Jesse Lange, they were attempting to address their on site problems but the off site extent of petroleum pollution is extensive and every bit as dangerous. It is not known how far the petroleum and MTBE additive may have migrated and it is not known if Comanche Creek frontage land is also affected. It is known that petroleum has followed underground utility conduits so that free petroleum has ended up under the PG&E facility across the Midway from Jesse-Lange.

There are many emerging issues that will effect both the investigation and cleanup of the petroleum spills from these sites because the investigative phase, where the boundaries of the contamination is delineated, hasn't even been mapped yet.

There must be increased emphasis by the Regional Water Quality Control Board to rapidly identify the areas that require cleanup and hold those responsible for the contamination, accountable. The cleanup stage will be even more daunting and requires Chico and Butte County to be involved in a de-politicized, solution-oriented effort with property owners, petroleum companies, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, other agencies, as well as local neighbors. There has been far too little public information and involvement considering the long history and severity of contamination in this area.

The NEFR Toxic Task Force is now called the Southwest Chico Toxic Task Force and is under the umbrella of the Butte Environmental Council (BEC). Detailed information on the history of the Midway and Hegan Lane petroleum leaks and plumes are available at BEC.

From the Spring 2001 issue of the Environmental News.