Floods leave Large Swaths Of Kansas under 30 feet of water and leaked oil
Pastor Dale Morgan
Floods leave Large Swaths Of Kansas under 30 feet of water and leaked oil*
02 Jul 2007 20:00:35 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Carey Gillam
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., July 2 (Reuters) - Kansas officials said on Monday
they were trying to contain damage from a significant oil refinery spill
that occurred over the weekend as raging floodwaters wreaked havoc
through the southeast part of the state.
The flood waters forced thousands of people from their homes in several
communities, including some who were rescued by boat-borne emergency
responders.
The situation was particularly daunting in the town of Coffeyville,
Kansas, where Coffeyville Resources, a 108,000 barrel-per-day refinery,
sustained a sizable spill as its facilities were swamped with waters
that rose more than 30 feet.
The oil spill contaminated the floodwaters, sweeping dark, foul-smelling
water into homes and businesses and turning roads into rushing streams.
The spill also contaminated the Verdigris River, sparking fears about
contamination of lakes downstream in Oklahoma, officials said.
"It is a serious issue. It's in all the floodwater," said Coffeyville
city clerk Cindy Price. "It's going to make the cleanup even harder."
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials were meeting with state
and local officials and refinery operators, but said they had not yet
determined the amount of oil that escaped the plant, which has 2.7
million barrels of storage for crude oil and refined products.
The refinery was still largely underwater, complicating evaluations,
said Coffeyville Resources spokeswoman Deborah Wood-Pope.
NO ACCURATE ASSESSMENT
Earlier the refinery said the spill amounted to at least 1,000 barrels,
or about 40,000 gallons, but by Monday afternoon its officials said they
did not have an accurate assessment.
News of the shutdown and spill sent wholesale gasoline prices in the
lower Midwest up 14.5 cents per gallon.
The spill was first detected by the city at about 3:55 a.m. on Sunday,
according Jeff Morris, city manager for Coffeyville, which has a
population of about 11,400.
Some 2,500 of the town's residents were evacuated from their homes
because of the flooding, which was triggered by heavy rainfall late last
week and into the weekend, including an elderly couple discovered early
on Monday on the upper floor of their flooded home, Morris said.
Morris said the town was struggling to protect its water supply from the
oil-contaminated floodwaters. If the flood did not recede soon and allow
the town to start pumping water back into the river basin, "our whole
system will be at risk for contamination," Morris said.
The spill occurred as the company was attempting to shut down the plant
and evacuate ahead of the flood. A pump at the refinery apparently
continued to push oil into a main storage tank until it overflowed, a
problem that went unnoticed for some time, Kansas Emergency Management
agency spokeswoman Sharon Watson said.
"It resulted in a significant spill," Watson said.
Coffeyville Resources is owned by CVR Energy Inc., a unit of Goldman
Sachs <GS.N> and the Kelso Funds. CVR is expected to launch its initial
public offering of stock on the New York Stock Exchange later this year.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has declared at least 18 Kansas counties disaster
areas because of flooding since Friday. (Additional reporting by Edgar
Ang, Robert Gibbons, Rebekah Kebede and Robert Campbell)