Great choice for 2015: OIL or WATER!!! We are now allowing greed-driven oil men in this country to give us oil-contaminated water for natural God-given clean water. This is a special kind of self-inflicted madness. Awakened, we could reverse this depravity with people power. This should be our New Years Resolution. It takes only takes one gallon of oil to pollute one million gallons of water. There are 2.8 million gallons of oil and ethanol sitting on the banks of the Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River-all for the benefit of one man-David Montgomery, ceo pf Coastal Energy! An Alert for the Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River A tank farm, owned by Coastal Energy of Willow Springs with 37 tanks containing 2.8 million gallons of ethanol, biodiesel, asphalt and other toxic petroleum products has been built only a few feet from the Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River (Tier III). This is a direct threat to the integrity and water quality of Greer Spring and the Eleven Point. It also possibly threatens the Jacks Fork and Current Rivers as well as the regional water supply as water in this area of karst can often mix. Contamination could become widespread. Recent EPA inspections found that 24 of the tanks “lack specific secondary containment”, as required by law. The inspectors also found that this facility does pose a substantial threat to fish, wildlife and sensitive environments-contrary to the company’s 2009 SPCC statement!“This finding was based on an improper assumption that a secondary containment berm surrounding the facility would prevent a worst case discharge from entering the nearby the Eleven Point River, a nationally protected wild and scenic river managed by the U.S. Forest Service.” The EPA also found that ten extra tanks were built and two were removed without being part of the facility’s original 2009 SPCC Plan; that inspections and inspection records were not done or maintained and that no emergency training was done or training records were not kept as they should have been. Coastal was also cited for removing storm water runoff from the facility automatically without inspecting the water for contamination first. Dye tracings were performed approximately a mile downstream from this site in 1975. The dye came out in Greer Spring, Missouri’s second largest and most pristine spring and the source for over half the water flowing above ground in the Eleven Point. Nine miles south in 1978 a sinkhole collapse caused the Dean Davis Wildlife Lake to drain and another collapse near West Plains 37 acres of the West Plains Sewage Lagoon to drain into the underground water supply for a large part of the Ozarks in 24 hours. Coastal Energy pumps its unmonitored storm water into a 40 acre field that contains known sinkholes! An MDNR topo map shows nine major sinkholes as well as a cave surrounding the Coastal property! In 2007 another sinkhole collapsed under a Mountain View-Birch Tree High School class room. Without adequate secondary containment, with many known sinkholes in the area and with the tanks being so close to the Eleven Point, which is a losing stream at that site. The only thing protecting the rivers and the regional water supply are the thickness and integrity of the tanks, valves and pipes! Tanks, pipes, valves and human judgment often experience failure. Even if an emergency response crew were on site, there is NO PHYSICAL WAY that water quality could be protected. The facility is simply too close to the river; it is an accident waiting to happen. Catastrophic sinkhole collapse remains a serious threat and any major leak or tank failure would send these poisons into the karst. The tank farm is built at an intersection of a geology full of holes, toxic chemistry and problematic physics The only apparent solution to protecting the Eleven Point Wild and Scenic River and the regional water supply is removal of these tanks from this location. Last spring a leak from a chemical tank in Charleston, West Virginia poisoned the drinking water for 300,000 people for months. We usually know of these accidents after the fact. A major incident at the Coastal Energy asphalt terminal would be too late. The situation in Willow Springs and for the Eleven Point is totally preventable. MDNR has turned this case over to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to “negotiate” with Coastal Energy. One cannot negotiate with a sinkhole or a train derailment. This facility is literally sitting in a field of sinkholes only 100+ feet from a “federally-protected river. Demand that the tanks be removed. Tom Kruzen, Angel Kruzen and Don Horton, Ozark Riverkeepers 213 East 3rd St, Mt. View, Mo, 65548 For more information, call: 417-934-2818 or 417-778-6777 Call or write: Missouri Attorney Generals Office Supreme Court Building 207 W. High St. P.O. Box 899 Jefferson City, MO 65102 Phone: 573-751-3321 Fax: 573-751-0774 Region VII EPA at 800-223-0425 or write: Region VII, Environmental Protection Agency, 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66219 Supervisors Office Forest Supervisor: William (Bill) Nightingale / 401 Fairgrounds Rd, Rolla, MO, 65401 Phone: (573) 364-4621 FAX: (573) 364-6844 Eleven Point Ranger District/ 4 Confederate Ridge Rd. Doniphan, Missouri, 63935 573-9962153 United States Geological Survey/ 1400 Independence Road, MS_100 Rolla, MO 65401 Rolla Field Office Phone: (573) 308-3572 Fax: (573) 308-3645 Office of Governor Jay Nixon / P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, MO 65102 Phone: (573) 751-3222 US Fish and Wildlife Service/ 101 PARK DEVILLE SUITE A COLUMBIA, MISSOURI 65203-0057 573 234-2132 FAX: 573 234-2182 “Preventing oil spills is the best strategy for avoiding potential damage to human health and the environment.”-From an EPA pamphlet on OIL SPILL CONTINGENCY PLANNING
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 19:32:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015