CONWAY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The emergency response to the Olympic Pipeline gasoline spill in Conway is now complete.
The Unified Command, which led the operation, said in a press release no more gasoline is seeping into the Hill Ditch and they are confident they can now turn the site over to the Department of Ecology for further management.
“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,” said Incident Commander Terry Zimmerman. “We deeply regret that the incident happened.”
Around 21,000 gallons of gasoline spilled in the area with over 8,300 gallons recovered. In addition, over 332,000 gallons of oily water were recovered. The cofferdam that was put in place along Hill Ditch has now been removed.
“This phase marks an important end to a long, complicated response,” said Madeline Fritzen, the 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.”
The site will now be turned over to Ecology’s Toxic Cleanup Program who will take care of any further remediation work. An investigation into the cause of the spill is still underway. Results of that investigation will be made public when it is completed. A claims number has been set up at 1-866-616-1558 for anyone to report personal or property damages resulting from the spill.
