Clean-up operations are underway at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge after an underground corroded pipeline fitting released as many as 100,000 gallons of fuel in the fuel farm area last week. Officials from the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, GeoEngineers Inc., and Pacific Environmental Corporation flew to Midway last Friday to oversee the clean up project.
Dropping fuel levels in the fuel tank were noted early last week and all valves to pipelines leading from the tank were closed. Using a process of elimination, the faulty pipeline was identified and isolated. Apparently, a cap on an underground fitting once used to collect fuel samples corroded over the years and caused the release. The faulty cap was replaced and no further leaks have been detected. FWS and GeoEngineers officials are analyzing records to determine the actual number of gallons released into the subsurface environment. Preliminary estimates are that between 75,000 and 100,000 gallons may have been lost.
No fuel has escaped into the marine environment at this time, and absorbent booms have been placed around the sea wall as a precaution. The fuel appears to be floating on top of the water table, approximately 8 feet below the surface of the ground. Two pits have been excavated, and fuel is being pumped out as it flows into the pits.
The JP-5 fuel appears to be mixing with water and old heavy black (bunker) oil. This contaminated fuel is being pumped into an empty tank to allow sand to settle out, then into an empty fuel farm tank for storage until a barge can be arranged to remove it from the refuge. The recovered fuel probably would not be useable on the atoll. As of yesterday, approximately 10,000 gallons of the fuel mixture had been recovered.
Since almost all of the spill is underground, impact to wildlife has been minimal to date. One oiled bird has been cleaned and appears to be recovering. One albatross adult and chick were moved to a safe location to make room for excavating one of the recovery pits.
Midway Atoll is located about 1,250 miles west-northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. It was established as an overlay National Wildlife Refuge in 1988, and was transferred from the U.S. Navy to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1996. The atoll provides nesting and resting habitat for nearly two million seabirds, as well as important habitat for migratory shorebirds, threatened green sea turtles, and endangered Hawaiian monk seals. The three small islets, totaling 1,549 acres are surrounded by nearly 86,000 acres of coral reefs and 211,000 acres of deeper waters within the refuge boundary. Midway
