Big Apple spill 'frequent and routine' for DEP

WEST PARIS —  A 20-gallon diesel fuel spill at the Big Apple on Route 26 February 14 is an example of spills that occur frequently, said Samantha Depoy-Warren, Maine Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman.

According to Depoy-Warren, a customer of Big Apple was filling their truck with diesel when the automatic shut-off on the nozzle failed.

"About 20 gallons [of diesel] discharged and ran across the parking lot into the snowbank," Depoy-Warren said. 

"This is a pretty routine spill from our perspective," Depoy-Warren said. Most of the spills are accidents, she said. "It happens every day." 

Had there not been such a timely response to clean it up, she said, the impact on the environment could have been detrimental. 

After following up with a responder, "the site is cleaned up to our satisfaction,"  Depoy-Warren said.

According to Depoy-Warren, the clean-up contractor, Environmental Projects, Inc., of Auburn, removed 15 yards of soiled snow and sorbent pads, used to absorb spills. The nozzle has since been fixed. 

Depoy-Warren said DEP deals with about 3,000 oil and hazardous material spills annually.

On average, one of the state's 400,000 heating oil tanks causes a spill per day, Depoy-Warren estimated. Other spills are the result of ruptured fuel tanks from automobile crashes.

According to a DEP release, in 2012, DEP responded to discharges from 496 residential heating oil tanks, just below the 10-year annual average of 506 home tank fuel spills. 

"So this is fairly minor," Depoy-Warren said. "There were no [natural] resources impacted." 

The primary cause of residential oil leaks is internal corrosion, caused by water and sludge build-up, according to DEP. 

Because corrosion destroys from the inside out, often it is not visible to homeowners until it's too late.

According to DEP, many oil dealers in Maine have licensed technicians on staff to perform what are called "ultrasonic thickness tests," to determine if the tank is corroding. 

The second cause of home heating oil spills is external tank damage. The third cause, according to DEP, are overfills during oil delivery. 

West Paris Fire Chief Norm St. Pierre, who responded to the spill at Big Apple, said it took about two hours to clean up. He said HazMat pads were put down to absorb the spill and a backhoe was used to make three dikes in the ground to prevent the diesel from spreading and to excavate the contaminated area. 

"We were successful at keeping it from going any further," St. Pierre said. 

He said his fire department responds to fuel spills about once a year and they are always accidental.

C.N. Brown, which owns Big Apple Food Stores throughout New England, is prepared to respond to fuel spills, Depoy-Warren said. 

DEP's "TankSmart" program trains tank operators at convenience stores to respond to spills, she said.

According to Depoy-Warren, there are more than 2,000 certified operators in Maine and every gas station has a certified employee on staff.

"They know exactly who to call, what to do, how to contain the situation immediately until other help can get there," she explained. 

"We try to give convenience stores and others who have fuel storage tanks on site the tools that they need so they are empowered to manage it [spills] so we [DEP] can mitigate any environmental or public health impact." 

If you spill fuel, if you witness a spill or think there is a threat of one, please report it immediately to Maine DEP’s 24-hour oil spill emergency spill response hot-line at 1-800-482-0777.