In the wake of a diesel spill at the Randolph Harley Power Plant on St. Thomas, V.I. Water and Power Authority officials said they worked quickly to follow the right response for cleanup, including adhering to the U.S. Coast Guard’s recommendation to use the remaining fuel so the situation doesn’t get any worse.
While offloading a shipment of diesel at the Harley plant late last week, one of the onshore storage tanks appears to have overflowed. About 30-40 percent of the spillage ended up outside the tank’s exterior secondary containment unit, which is meant to function like a dam to contain the liquid, according to WAPA Chief Executive Officer Andy Smith. The authority is working to figure out what caused the malfunction and if it can be fixed, but first has to mitigate what landed on shore, which was mixed in over the weekend and into Monday, with large amounts of rainwater and together is estimated at around 17,000 gallons.
Though full activation of the authority’s on-site oil response team didn’t appear to be needed over the weekend, Smith said in an interview with the Source Monday that any situation that could have a negative environmental impact is cause for concern, not to mention that oil onshore is flammable and could be harmful, if ignited, to WAPA’s personnel and the surrounding community. Diesel in water won’t explode, but it will cause a blaze, he said.
The first priority, after bringing the oil response team in to take a look, was coordinating response with Planning and Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency and Coast Guard, which Smith said got involved because of the spill’s proximity to the water. It was upon the Coast Guard’s recommendation that WAPA use what was left in the tank, forcing the authority to switch to diesel for the past couple of days.
At this point, WAPA is still doing cleanup, which Smith said will continue, then expects to work with the EPA and Coast Guard afterward on compliance review, followed by inspecting the tank and understanding if repairs are needed.
Smith said the switch to diesel had nothing to do with Monday’s power outages, however, which were caused by issues with Feeder 13 on St. Thomas, which experienced a fault last month, pushing the authority into about a week of rotating power.
During that time, the feeder experienced multiple faults occurring on the cable and WAPA energized it several times, which, due to its old age, can weaken some of the connections on the line, Smith explained. The heavy rain over the weekend exacerbated the situation Monday, causing a fault that was identified late Sunday night, but couldn’t be fixed immediately because crews couldn’t get into the overflowing manholes, Smith said.
The feeder was fully restored by Monday evening.
