June 15, 2015 – Line 901 Incident Update

PLAINS LINE 901 INCIDENT RESPONSE UPDATE, JUNE 15, 2015

Plains All American Pipeline provided the following update as cleanup operations continued near Goleta, Calif.  This update is for the work period from Friday, June 12, through Sunday, June 14, 2015, and is attributable to Patrick Hodgins, senior director, Safety & Security, Plains All American Pipeline, who is serving as the Plains Incident Commander and its representative within Unified Command.

Plains deeply regrets that this unfortunate accidental release occurred, and we are sorry for the resulting impact to the environment and wildlife, as well as for any disruption caused to residents and visitors. Plains is committed to doing everything in our power to make this right.

For the three day work period from Friday through Sunday, the total number of people working per day on the response ranged from 960 to nearly 1,100 across the five work zones and in the Incident Command Post.  This included approximately 850 to nearly 940 people per day in the field, and about 115 to 135 people per day managing operations in the command center, including federal, state and local agency partners.

The following is an update on activity in the work zones during the three day work period:

Water

  • All visible pipeline oil has been removed from the water.  Accordingly, the work over the three day work period was primarily focused on removing boom that had been deployed to protect the shoreline.  200 feet of boom will be maintained to protect areas of cultural significance.
  • Water column samples continue to be taken.  Sampling for finfish and shellfish was started in accordance with the established procedure for reopening fisheries.

Beaches

  • Four Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) teams – made up of federal, state and third-party scientists trained in assessing shoreline oiling and determining appropriate cleanup methods – conducted their regular shoreline cleanup assessments on Friday and Saturday to direct the deployment of work crews according to cleanup objectives, which were pre-determined by Unified Command for this stage of the recovery efforts.  Due to progress of shoreline cleanup, on Sunday, Unified Command began deploying three SCAT teams.
  • Over the course of the three-day work period, 650-700 workers contributed to beach cleanup activities. Work crews collected lightly oiled seaweed and kelp from the shoreline as well as manually cleaned oil from the rocks and cobble.
  • Through Sunday, SCAT teams have determined that 91% of the affected shoreline has met the end-point cleanup objectives for this stage of the recovery efforts.  Clean areas will continue to be monitored to determine whether additional work might be necessary.

Bluffs

  • In the area south of the southbound 101, work crews continued making progress excavating the oiled soil.

Culvert

  • We have completed the initial cleanup and are continuing to monitor the area to determine whether additional work is necessary.

Release Site

  • As soon as the remaining activities conclude and testing confirms the oil has been removed from the soil in the area, we will cover the exposed section of pipe with clean soil.

Claims

  • For those who have questions or who would like to submit a claim, please call
    866-753-3619. We are actively addressing claims as they are received.

For more information, please visit www.plainsline901response.com.

(Note: Effective June 12, 2015, Plains began providing updates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with each report containing information since the prior report.)

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