Work to remove oil that spilled beneath a storm-drainage pipe in a Mayflower subdivision when an Exxon Mobil pipeline ruptured last month is expected to begin next week, the Faulkner County judge said Friday.
A contractor will handle that job, and it could take 10 to 14 days, County Judge Allen Dodson said. The work will include replacing the drainage pipe, which runs down North Starlite Road.
The pipeline ruptured about 2:45 p.m. March 29 in a yard between two houses in the small town’s Northwoods subdivision. Residents of 22 homes remain evacuated, although the all-clear sign has been given for residents to return to 10 of those houses if they wish. Heavy equipment remains in the area, and Dodson said that is likely one factor keeping some residents away.
The Pegasus pipeline carries Canadian-produced crude oil about 850 miles from Illinois to refineries along the Gulf Coast in Texas. The entire pipeline was shut down after the rupture and cannot resume service until Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. gets federal approval.
Authorities still do not know what caused a 22-foot section of the line, built in 1947 and 1948, to split open.
The rupture spilled an estimated 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, of oil into the middle-class subdivision, two drainage ditches and a Lake Conway backwater, or cove, where much of the cleanup is now focused. Authorities said water sampling has indicated that the main portion of the 6,700-acre fishing lake and Palarm Creek remain oil-free.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and Exxon Mobil Corp. are continuing to monitor water samples, according to a news release issued by the company and state, federal and local officials Friday.
The office of U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., whose district included Mayflower, announced Friday that he and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure would visit Mayflower on Sunday and take a look at the cleanup site.
Griffin said in an e-mailed statement that he and Shuster, R-Pa., would “discuss with community leaders the progress we are making strengthening our infrastructure in Central Arkansas, and the opportunities and challenges we face improving highways and increasing pipeline safety.”
Also, the Faulkner County Citizens Advisory Group, which promotes community health and hazard preparedness, plans to hold a townhall-style event Monday, which is Earth Day, to discuss the Mayflower spill.
The event will run from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Faulkner County Natural Resource Center at 110 S. Amity Road in Conway.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 18 on 04/20/2013