Oil sheen on Potomac near DC under investigation

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Canada geese recovered from wildlife pond near Reagan airport being treated.

 This is why I am against another Power Plant in Burrillville. Insufficient water supply from the two contaminated Pascoag wells and we are already drawing water from the Blackstone River at South main street Woonsocket and storing it in a man made storage pond in North Smithfield for the power plant on Sherman Farm Road which is half the size of the proposed now 1,000 instead of the original 900 mega watt plant and the new drawing has three large Oil Storage tanks for a alleged backup source of more polluting fuel than it's original proposal and it was not too long ago that the trailer trucks were lined up hauling the valuable commodity to keep it full. This past August when the State was down only 11 inches of rainfall you could walk across the Blackstone River at the River Falls restaurant in Woonscocket and Indian folklore says it was a common occurrence. Will the Super Power Plant Megaplex be conveintly located downstream and gravity fed close to the last clean potable drinking water supply in the entire State of Rhode Island, spring fed Wallum Lake and the quite little Wakefield Pond in Buck Hill ? Downstream is Wilsons Reservoir and the Branch River which will dry up and destroy those property values and a way of life for all those who chose, not forced to raise their families in our rural town.I worked in Somerset Mass. for 11 years and we all received a allowance every week to wash our cars from the soot from that soon to be closed power-plant and I researched and found out their power plant also destroyed all of the Flounder spawning grounds in the large Seekonk river watershed area. Just look at a Google Map from above and you too will see why the Power Company chose this location and with the least resistance from those backward locals.
  Too bad we will also loose our last portion of pristine woodland that supports our last Copperhead Rattle Snakes and TimberHead rattlesnakes which were here a very long time before we were and that very rare 9 spotted Lady Bug native to only Rhode Island and our native Lady Slipper wild orchids which will be gone for our future generations.
   Please ask yourself ? Do you really want to forfeit the Buck Hill pristine native property along with the East Douglas State Forest and Thompson Quaddick Woodland for a little tax stabilization ? Not Me !

  

Oily liquid continued to ooze Sunday into a waterfowl pond along the Potomac River as investigators searched for a source in a Washington, D.C. area storm drain.
While the rainbow-colored sheen seen late last week along an eight-mile stretch of the river has dissipated, investigators Sunday morning spotted more oil coming from an outfall emptying into Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, according to Lt. David Ruhlig, U.S. Coast Guard operations section chief overseeing response to the incident.
Booms were strung across the outfall to capture the oil, augmenting containment measures put in Roaches Run Friday.
“This allowed us to keep any further sheen from entering the Potomac from Roaches Run, and our hope is that it will help us to rule out other avenues of entry.” Ruhlig said in a statement released Sunday afternoon. The Coast Guard is coordinating the efforts of federal, state and local authorities dealing with the contamination.
Another 11 geese appear to have been affected by the oily sheen, in addition to 19 oiled geese and a duck recovered since Friday, according to the statement. A nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation service, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research of Newark, DE, is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to capture the geese.
The Coast Guard is working with Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality and Arlington County to try tracing the discharge up through the storm drain network.

Federal, state and local authorities are investigating an oil sheen first reported Wednesday that at one time covered an 8-mile stretch of the Potomac River just south of Washington, D.C.
The oil sheen does not pose a health threat at this time, but responders are on the lookout for wildlife that may have been affected, said Lt. David Ruhlig, incident management chief at Coast Guard Sector Baltimore, which covers Maryland and the Washington region. Eighteen oil-coated Canada geese recovered from a riverside wildlife pond in Arlington, Va. are being treated, said Ruhlig.
The sheen may be the result of oily runoff from snow melting in the region, but agencies are still investigating that possibility while moving to contain and treat oil found coming from an outfall near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, said Ruhlig.
Authorities began receiving reports Wednesday of oil sheen on the river just east of Arlington and the airport, Ruhlig said. More reports have come in since as warmer temperatures and rain melted snow and increased runoff.
But the most concentrated sheen has been spotted just north of the airport in a creek called Roaches Run, where there was a strong oily odor in the air. Orange booms were deployed to contain the rainbow-colored substance. and cleanup crews strung streamer-like "sorbent sweeps"  across the water to soak up the contaminants.
Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks said he isn’t convinced that the sheen is just from storm-water runoff washing oil off streets and parking lots. He  noted there had been an oil spill last week at a Dominion Virginia Power facilitiy nearby.
.Dominion spokesman Rob Richardson confirmed that 13,000 gallons of mineral oil spilled Jan. 24 from a transformer at a power substation in Crystal City, not far from Roaches Run.

Source: Whitney Pipkin , Bay Journal News