
DATE: Saturday, July 12, 1997               TAG: 9707120273

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:  171 lines

VA. GAS QUIETLY CLEANS UP PUTRID 1996 CHEMICAL LEAK

Nearly 17 months ago, up to 400 gallons of a potent chemical leaked out of a Virginia Natural Gas pipeline, drawing complaints from as far away as the Oceanfront.

Despite the quiet removal of tons of contaminated soil from the site, the problem persists. Leaching chemicals continue to fill the air near Interstate 464 and Military Highway with the pungent smell of a gas-line break.

Through it all, the state Department of Environmental Quality has conducted no independent tests to see if the chemical levels were safe for those who live in a trailer park adjacent to the site.

And the DEQ, which has been criticized as soft on polluters under Gov. George F. Allen's administration, never notified city health officials or nearby residents of the spill.

The agency, instead, relied on Virginia Natural Gas to gauge the severity of its own spill and to sound the alert if there were any danger.

The chemical spilled was mercaptan, which is added in minute quantities to natural gas to give it the familiar and offensive odor.

Natural gas has no odor, and the mercaptan is used as an olfactory red flag to give ample warning of potentially explosive leaks.

A typical gas stove burner will emit between 0 and 10 parts of mercaptan per million parts of natural gas when the pilot light is out.

Today, after more than a year of cleanup efforts, the site is still discharging between 60 and 80 parts per million.

The chemical is so potent, a thimbleful of its pure form could create a stench across all of Norfolk, according to state officials.

Long exposure to mercaptan can be harmful, according to industry information, causing skin irritation, headache, nausea and difficulty in breathing. Chronic exposure could cause kidney problems, according to the medical literature.

Virginia Natural Gas officials, however, said that their tests showed there was no need for concern for those who live nearby or for the hundreds of thousands of commuters who have driven past the site daily on the highway connecting Chesapeake and Norfolk.

According to a letter from the DEQ to Virginia Natural Gas officials, the leak occurred in either March or April 1996 when a connector failed in underground stainless steel tubing between a supply pump and a mercaptan injector in Virginia Natural Gas' lines.

Chesapeake fire personnel were called in to help with the initial spill, but they, too, did not alert the health department or neighbors.

The DEQ did not tell the city because it did not believe it was responsible for giving that notification, said Richard C. Craft, air compliance manager for the agency's Virginia Beach area office. He said that was up to Virginia Natural Gas.

But state and local laws do not require companies such as Virginia Natural Gas to notify localities of such events as long as they don't create an emergency situation, officials said.

Utilities are expected to do so, city officials said.

``I consider it a breakdown,'' said Dr. Nancy M. Welch, Chesapeake's health director, who was first told of the spill on Thursday. ``It's not something that's written down that says we have to, but it's because we're all working for the same thing.''

Cleanup of the spill began in May 1996, according to the DEQ letter.

The spill site is behind a fence in the Virginia Natural Gas facility.

Residents of the adjacent Stoney's Mobile Home Park were the first to notice the stench.

``You hated to breathe, it was so raunchy,'' said Martha Carney, a 13-year resident of the park.

Living near a gas plant, the neighbors were used to an occasional odor.

``But it's never been that bad,'' Carney said. ``This was going on day after day.''

When she called Virginia Natural Gas to complain, she said, ``it was basically a runaround. And I know what a runaround is.''

Kathy Knecht, who also lives in the park, said the odor ``just made you nauseated.'' It gave local children headaches and would seep through closed windows and doors, she said.

When she called Virginia Natural Gas, Knecht said, ``they told me they would check out the problem, that they didn't know what the problem was and they would check into it.''

John O. Morgan Jr., another resident of the park, said that when he complained he was told Virginia Natural Gas was putting a new pipe in.

``What can we do about it?'' he said in resignation when told it had actually been a chemical leak. ``We're just ordinary people here. They're the ones with all the money.''

According to Donald White, manager for codes, standards and systems planning for Virginia Natural Gas, the Chesapeake site was so pungent that complaints came from as far away as Virginia Beach's Oceanfront.

``A drop of this stuff goes a long way as far as smell,'' he said.

Virginia Natural Gas officials admit to not telling the general public all about the spill.

``I guess our philosophy has been it really wasn't a big deal, and if you spill something, you clean it up,'' said spokeswoman Margie Ibes. ``A notice would desensitize people to the odor. If you tell them the reason you're smelling this is because there's a leak, they might not call the next time they smell it. And that is not what we want. We want people to call us when they smell that.''

``In retrospect,'' she added, ``it probably wasn't the best position to take.''

Virginia Natural Gas quietly set up a huge yellow tent on top of the spill site and began churning and burning the chemical out of 110,000 tons of local dirt.

There were problems. The tent used to enclosed the odors leaked fumes, and the scrubber used to wash the chemical from the dirt broke down.

The chemical was eventually piped out of the ground instead and burned or ``flared.'' This procedure continues.

But despite the containment efforts, the mercaptan has spread.

In April, a year after the spill and after more odor complaints, Virginia Natural Gas officials discovered that the mercaptan had migrated under Military Highway to a retention pond along Interstate 464.

Virginia Natural Gas officials are still awaiting approval by the DEQ for their plans to cleanup the pond.

Officials from DEQ and Virginia Natural Gas call the spill a nuisance and nothing more.

``We have no reason to believe there's any reason for concern about health as far we know at this time,'' said DEQ's Craft.

The chemical is most dangerous when burned or heated to decomposition, emitting highly toxic fumes, according to National Library of Medicine's hazardous substance databank.

But Virginia Natural Gas's ``flaring'' of the mercaptan likely poses little health risk for neighbors, according to an official with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Burning the fumes would likely eliminate nearly all of the chemical, said Richard Nickel, an environmental health scientist and emergency response coordinator for the agency based in Atlanta.

Nickel said Friday that the severity of the spill was likely reduced because it leaked underground.

``The stuff essentially likes the soil, even though it's pretty volatile,'' said Nickel. ``Just sitting there, it won't be a problem. It's probably not a problem.''

Still, he said, he couldn't be sure without studying the site and data.

``It's really hard to be definitive because it depends on things like how much moisture you've gotten since the spill,'' he said, ``how much organic material is in the material, like peat instead of sand.''

Chesapeake officials, who learned about the spill when The Virginian-Pilot called with questions, issued a Public Health Bulletin Friday afternoon. It said that no health risk currently exists and noted that residents of the area rely on central water and sewer, which was not affected.

No swimming is allowed in the pond which is now emitting the smells, the health department said, adding that the city is now in contact with the DEQ and State Health Department to monitor the spill.

It is unclear if the chemical has spread beyond the pond or if it will eventually seep into a large area aquifer, which is estimated to be 40 feet below the surface.

DEQ officials said Virginia Natural Gas has not tested for mercaptan beyond the pond. Neither has the state agency.

``I think we can say probably that it's gone as far as that retention pond,'' said Craft. ``Nobody's tested beyond that to my knowledge.''

DEQ officials have said the leak did not infiltrate the local aquifer, and that smell is the only impact. No one has a well in the area, and residents there receive Norfolk city water which would not be affected.

Amar Dwarkanath, Chesapeake's director of public utilities, said all water lines in the area are pressurized between 40 and 60 pounds per square inch. Should a pipe spring a leak, water would rush out preventing any contaminants from entering the system. ILLUSTRATION: KEPT IN THE DARK

[Color Photos]

BILL TIERNAN PHOTOS / The Virginian-Pilot

John O. Morgan Jr. has lived at Stoney's Mobile Home Park for the

past 17 years, and his trailer is adjacent to the site of the

Virginia Natural Gas pipeline spill.

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

This Virginia Natural Gas facility on Military Highway is where up

to 400 gallons of a foul-smelling chemical called mercaptan escaped

from a pipeline more than a year ago.

In April, Virginia Natural Gas officials discovered that the

mercaptan had migrated under Military Highway to this retention

pond along Interstate 464.