March 22, 2011 - EarthFax Provides Emergency Response Engineering Services for an Additional Urban Oil Spill

On December 1, 2010 upset of a valve station on a 10-inch diameter crude oil pipeline resulted in a release of more than 21,000 gallons of oil onto the ground near Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Oil filled the valve-station vault and ran downhill toward Red Butte Creek but it was contained by a snow bank and emergency-response efforts before it reached the creek.

As a member of the pipeline company’s emergency response team, EarthFax responded to the site of the release to delineate the extent of contamination and verify whether oil had reached the creek.  Additional EarthFax emergency response activities included monitoring and sampling the creek, vertical and horizontal sampling of areas affected by the release, supervision of remediation and reclamation efforts, and providing agency liaison services to the client for regulatory matters.  Remediation and reclamation services provided by EarthFax included confirmation sampling following removal of affected soil, characterization of excavated soils for disposal purposes, and continued support to the client through interaction with regulatory agencies.

Due to the density of underground utilities at the block valve vault and space limitations, traditional excavation shoring techniques such as benching became impracticable.  In response to this challenge, EarthFax conducted a geotechnical evaluation and determined that temporary shoring pilings could be installed around the vault so that deeper contamination could be safely removed.  Once shoring was installed, EarthFax performed on-site screening of excavated soils to segregate soils that would be disposed of as hazardous or non-hazardous waste.  Following excavation activities, we collected soil samples to confirm that the target soils had been adequately removed.

EarthFax Engineering, Inc. is a consulting engineering firm that was founded in 1982, with offices in Midvale, Utah.  The firm provides services in the areas of civil engineering, environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrology, geology, land reclamation, and environmental planning.  Additional information regarding EarthFax can be found at www.earthfax.com.