Kerosene contamination..

[tanker]

Some of you in Wales and maybe further afield will have seen on the news the closing of the A48 dual carriageway (a main arterial route from Cork to Moscow no less) because of a fractured pipeline which has sent 200,000l+ of aviation fuel down a small river. Sad to report that we're the worst affected by the whole fiasco,we've got 70ac out of bounds which the river runs through and road closures and general hassle,expense and disruption.I've got an agent involved but I was wondering if anyone else had any experiences of similar incidents..?

 

[Yale]

Sounds like a job for @Thick Farmer.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

What actually happened ?

 

[mark perego]

Sounds like a job for @Thick Farmer.

View attachment 414888

Oh god,don't encourage it

 

[rob1]

Strange how that doesnt seem to be on the tv news. Local industrial estate had an unkown leak for about two years until the ea finally traced it, they just put booms across the river to absorb the fuel and dragged them out to burn now and again

 

[renewablejohn]

Its surprising how many kerosene pipelines there are in the country a lot put in during WW2 so well past there sell by date. Nobody mentions them due to the threat of terrorist attack.

 

[davidroberts30]

Isnt this the main milford to seisdon pipe?
16inch that carries everything from diesel to kero to jet fuel



1 of the tanks our end leaked a few years ago,cant remember the amount lost but soaked throught the ground, smell coming through into houses and it ended up in a stream straight into the cleddau

 

[Farfrae]

Not sure of the full details but the pipe was known to be leaking and the work was planned ahead because of the main road closure.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/investigation-leak-up-100000-litres-11995020

Now one wouldn't have thought you need too many degrees from 'nonsuch' university to realise that when you start excavating a main arterial pipe from a refinery there is the potential for an awful lot of fuel to come leaking out. Common sense would tell you that you'd need a lot of bunding, pumping and storeage capacity and back up procedures in place - with of course an agreed plan with the environmental authorities for all eventualities.

As an incomer to Wales it has become increasingly apparent that the local authorities and National Resources Wales etc. are a complete bunch of arrogant timewasters who do not have the slightest interest in the public and the customers who pay their grandiose salaries (22 local councils in Wales for just over 3 million people - each one with an expensively paid Chief Executive etc.). Welsh Councils have around 200 people earning over £100,000 a year! The goings on at Pembrokeshire Council are a national embarrasment and have regularly made it into the national press. For anyone who has the time and inclination much of this is detailed in this blog (life's too short I know!)

https://jacobwilliams.com

As for the OP I'd suggest that he documents every single bit of expenditure with his agent (and their costs) and claims every single penny from the insurers.

 

[Welsh Farmer]

No helpful advice for you @tanker .... just wanted to say how sorry I am to read that you've been affected by all of this. Goodness knows farming is challenging enough when everything is going right but what a nightmare this is for you. Good luck and I hope your land agent is well up to the task in helping, advising and securing sufficient financial compensation for you.

 

[milkloss]

1400psi 16" bore pipe! That's some serious leak and heads should roll. There has been some good comments as regards farmers getting in trouble for petty issues compared to this.

 

[___\0/___]

Not sure if you are a member of the NFU? Vegetable land up here got contaminated with plastic through compost, had to get the NFU in to sort it out after a lot of problems.

 

[Giles1]

Sounds like a job for @Thick Farmer.

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Someone,before my time,did just this after a petrol spillage in the river out the back here,the flame shot down the river,then up the next river that joins it ,and past that junction towards the loch.Apparently it was quite exciting,there were (and still are) a few "witnesses".Could have been some eyebrow modification if you'd been fishing on the river bank,or sitting in a canoe.

 

[Cowabunga]

The work on the pipeline was scheduled and one side of the dual carriageway closed off for about five miles. For some reason the contractors somehow managed to spill all this paraffin while doing the work. What happened, I don't know.

All I know is that if a farmer killed a little fish he would be up for penalties exceeding that for human murder. This has had no more publicity, probably less, than a small slurry leak on an average family farm.

 

[tanker]

It's the most profitable pipeline in Europe seemingly,the company,Valero are already £15mill down because the pipeline is out of commision(they're worth $43billion so they'll manage),there's not much storage at the refinery so that's just ticking over and oil tankers are queuing up at anchor. They were driving piles in prior to sinking a shaft 30ft down through the dual carriageway to do the maintenence work when something caused the pipe to break,more than likely the piledriving caused some subsidence and maybe a weld gave or it just fractured.The fuel came out at 40bar which is maintenence pressure,full pressure is 100bar,the pumps knock of automatically and valves shut..the problem is that the nearest valve is 17miles to the west and 11miles to the east so thousands of gallons came out..Luckily for us it was aviation fuel,2 hours later there'd have been petrol being pumped and we'd have been evacuated.
The river is a mess, fish,otters,birds all gone and despite the efforts to capture the oil(&re-refine it of course) there's still plenty in the watercourses.Not much joy to be honest,they're busy here now fencing both sides of the river so no stock can get in.

 

[Landy Nick]

A fuel pipeline to my local airport that was put in during the late 80s prior to the airport expansion, which leaked the first time they pumped fuel through. This leaked into a local brook, then onto the main river. Did untold damage to the river and wiped just about everything out.
The local trout stream was closed for several years. Wasn't worth restocking, as the food source took just as long to come back.
Nearly 30 years later, if disturbing the river bottom. Oil slicks and the smell of kerosene still reappear.

 

[Landy Nick]

Interesting bit of info here. You don't realise how many pipelines there are buried beneath us.
The working pressures too are quite surprising.

http://www.linewatch.co.uk/pdf/SpecReq_Apr13_web.pdf

 

[SilliamWhale]

The work on the pipeline was scheduled and one side of the dual carriageway closed off for about five miles. For some reason the contractors somehow managed to spill all this paraffin while doing the work. What happened, I don't know.

All I know is that if a farmer killed a little fish he would be up for penalties exceeding that for human murder. This has had no more publicity, probably less, than a small slurry leak on an average family farm.

I dont think you are right about the penalties for farmers. I think generally the EA treat farm issues quite pragmatically

 

[Robigus]

Some of you in Wales and maybe further afield will have seen on the news the closing of the A48 dual carriageway (a main arterial route from Cork to Moscow no less) because of a fractured pipeline which has sent 200,000l+ of aviation fuel down a small river. Sad to report that we're the worst affected by the whole fiasco,we've got 70ac out of bounds which the river runs through and road closures and general hassle,expense and disruption.I've got an agent involved but I was wondering if anyone else had any experiences of similar incidents..?

You are facing problems and a big company is responsible.

Employ a good agent.

This will not cost you anything as you are not at fault and the other party will have to pay the costs.
There could well be on going issues and third party claims.

Employ a good agent.

 

[tanker]

I have immediately and it's what I've been telling the other few affected parties. This is a very big incident of it's kind and the ramifications are perhaps beyond most of us.

 

[Robigus]

I have immediately and it's what I've been telling the other few affected parties. This is a very big incident of it's kind and the ramifications are perhaps beyond most of us.

I'm sure you are ahead of me but have a good talk to your insurance company.