Chevron wants to stop monitoring Red Butte Creek 6 years after spill

Chevron wants to stop monitoring Red Butte Creek 6 years after spill

(Deseret News Archives)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Six years after a ruptured pipeline sent 800 barrels of oil into Red Butte Creek, Chevron says the creek is as clean as other urban waterways and water quality monitoring should cease.

The Utah Division of Water Quality is weighing the company's request to suspend sampling and any further monitoring of the creek, with a decision likely by next month.

"At some point we have to put a bow on it and say we're done," said Walt Baker, division director.

The company submitted a risk characterization report to the division that looks at human health and ecological risk factors for the creek, compared to four others: Parleys, City Creek, Mill Creek and Emigration. An analysis shows the hydrocarbon levels in Red Butte are similar.

The report also showed that conditions for macroinvertebrates at Red Creek are either similar, or better than the other urban waterways.

Chevron said the results should demonstrate that further monitoring is no longer warranted.

A summer lightning storm in June of 2010 punched a hole about the size of a quarter in the company's Rangely Pipeline above Red Butte Garden, sending oil into the creek for about 10 hours before the company realized the breach had occurred.

Members of the Red Butte Canyon Spill Unified Command Cleanup Operation crew uses a fire float to wash the bank of Red Butte Creek behind the Veterans Medical Center in Salt Lake City on June 28, 2010. Six years after a ruptured pipeline sent 800 barrels of oil into the creek, Chevron says it is as clean as other urban waterways and water quality monitoring should cease. (Photo: Deseret News Archives)
Members of the Red Butte Canyon Spill Unified Command Cleanup Operation crew uses a fire float to wash the bank of Red Butte Creek behind the Veterans Medical Center in Salt Lake City on June 28, 2010. Six years after a ruptured pipeline sent 800 barrels of oil into the creek, Chevron says it is as clean as other urban waterways and water quality monitoring should cease. (Photo: Deseret News Archives)

The oil wiped out all aquatic life in the stream and also contaminated the pond at Liberty Park, forcing its closure for a year.

Chevron was fined by the federal government for Clean Water Act violations and paid $1 million to Salt Lake City for the lost use of the stream. Another $500,000 was levied by the state against the company, which also settled with residents impacted by the spill for $900,000.

As part of state enforcement action, the company was required to carry out sampling and testing of the creek until it is deemed to be in a pre-spill condition. The company also was ordered to pay for aquatic restoration projects, including work to create a new sanctuary for birds at Farmington Bay.

Chevron later was responsible for a spill of diesel fuel that impacted wetlands at Willard Bay in 2013. During that incident, nearly 500 barrels of diesel fuel had to be scrubbed from the popular recreation area.

Comments on Chevron's proposal at Red Butte Creek are being accepted by the state through Wednesday.

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