For the week of June 27 - July 3, 2001

Resolution of gasoline leak slow

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

A gasoline leak at Redfish Lake Lodge in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area has received federal agency attention, but little has been done to fix a suspected leaky line since it was reported June 4.

Gas pump operations were suspended upon detection of the leak. Because officials believe the line only leaked when someone used the pumps, shutting down the gas pump operations could be a temporary fix.

"The line is probably leaking at the joints," said Barb Jewell, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality regional manager for redemption and waste. "It’s probably not gushing out of there. It’s probably more along the lines of a squirt."

The suspect gas line connects the vehicle gas pumps at the lodge’s convenience store to a storage tank behind it. The line has not yet been completely exposed.

The process, Jewell said, "is not moving very fast. It’s not an unduly length of time, but depending (on all the entities involved) it could be drawn out a little longer."

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho DEQ, National Marine Fisheries Service and a gasoline storage tank insurance company are all sorting out whose turn it is to approve the next action, Jewell said.

The DEQ must be notified within 24 hours of detection of gasoline leaks, Jewell said. NMFS was consulted because Redfish Lake is traditional sockeye salmon spawning habitat, but officials believe the leak was too small to find its way into the lake’s icy water.

"Essentially, what we thought we had on our hands was a dig-and-chase," Jewell said.

But because the insurance company, Idaho Petroleum Storage Tank Fund, wishes to date contaminated soils to determine when the leak began and whom to blame, digging has not begun in earnest.

In a Monday meeting, SNRA officials, lodge owner Jeff Clegg, the DEQ and the insurance company agreed to install test wells to determine the extent of the contamination. The soil will then be dug up or treated using a biological process.

The delay in the cleanup is "not due to lack of response or lack of interest," SNRA permit administrator Alison Nelson said. "If there are more players involved, it’s harder to move forward quickly."

Nelson said she expects the test wells to be installed next week.

"We’re following all of the appropriate procedures and all of our specialists are involved," she said.

 

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