Tennessee River; Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee | 1999-Feb-10

Initial Notification: This spill occurred sometime after midnight on February 10, 1999, when a 10-inch pipeline burst open on top of a hill overlooking Fort Loudoun Lake on the Tennessee River. Phone calls soon began to filter into the local fire station describing a strong diesel smell within a cluster of homes at Scottish Pike in South Knoxville, Tennessee. When a fire truck arrived on-scene, a fountain of diesel fuel was spewing heavily onto an adjacent house and an immediate evacuation of six homes took place. At the same time notification to shut down its pipeline was given to Colonial Pipeline (RP). They were also told to boom off Goose Creek, at the junction of the creek and the Lake. The diesel had flowed down an embankment to Goose Creek then into the lake and river creating a slick 60 feet wide and several miles long. The USCG was notified and dispatched a team from MSD Nashville and three members of the USCG GST. EPA arrived on-scene the morning of February 13 and assumed the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) position since the spill originated from shore. The cause of the spill will be investigated by the National Transit Safety Board (NTSB). The spill occurred at river mile (RM) 647.5, which is below the City of Knoxville's water intakes. Additionally the river is controlled by a dam ( Fort Loudoun Lake Dam) that shut down operations soon after notification of the spill. By midmorning the RP and contracted response organizations had boomed off three locations down river. Because it was dyed red the diesel produced a very noticeable slick. The current in the area was flowing at 1 knot and a little faster in the river bend just a couple of miles downstream from Goose Creek in the area called Sequoyah Hills. From there the river opens up wider and the current drops off significantly. As the diesel spread out, rainbow sheens developed. This was prevalent between Sequoyah Hills and a mile down river to Looney Island. As the spilled diesel weathered, silver sheens became more prevalent after day two and even more on day three. Additionally silver steaks could be seen from the air leeching off a point at RM 645. South of Looney Island to Sequoyah Park the diesel was observed to be in streaks and patches. On shore the diesel penetrated deep into the riprap shorelines and maybe an inch into the fine-grain sand shores from Goose Creek to Sequoyah Hills. Oil film and a brown frothy mousse could be seen downstream of Sequoyah Hills. Additional shoreline impacts were at the booming site at Sequoyah Park where unweathered diesel pooled at the junction of the boom and shoreline. Some oiled debris was located at RM 639 near Maxey's Boat Dock. Fortunately half the area is guarded by bedrock bluffs resulting in less shoreline impact and probably accounted for a high percentage of recovery noted by the RP. Officially, 45,000 gallons of diesel was released and 90% was recovered by skimmers and vacuum trucks. The initial report of the spill indicated that there had been 80,000 gallons of diesel released. In which case the mass balance breaks down to 50% recovered, 30% evaporated, 15% Goose Creek soils, and 5% other shoreline impacts. USCG district 8. Keyword: boom, skimmers, low-pressure washing, vacuum trucks.