BP/ARCO Tank Farm; Harbor Island, Seattle, WA

Harbor Island, Seattle, WA | 2007-Dec-05

Initial Notification: Sector Seattle notified the HDO, Wednesday afternoon, that a large tank containing 4800 Bbls of low sulfur diesel could structurally fail resulting in oil into the Duwamish River waterway and on into Eliott Bay. Apparently, the floating lid on the tank had been canted as the result of the over-pressure from the heavy rain deluge of the past few days in Seattle putting a large pressure on the sides of the tank. The Coast Guard requested NOAA to provide trajectory for a possible release, weather, tides and response consultation. The entire situation stabilized late Wednesday night as the tank lid, still canted, sank to the bottom of the tank. After consultation with BP tank engineers, pumping off of the tank commenced Thursday and was completed Friday morning at 0600 LT with a total of 4354 Bbls of diesel removed. From the response viewpoint, the incident was closed.