Town of Huntersville issued the following announcement on Aug. 22.
The Town of Huntersville is hosting a public meeting Thursday, August 27th at 5:30 p.m. at the Huntersville Recreation Center to provide an update from the many public agencies responding to the Colonial Pipeline gasoline leak. Residents will receive information from responding agencies agency and be able to ask questions.
The Huntersville Recreation Center is located at 11836 Verhoeff Drive and this venue will allow for adequate social distancing as we recently hosted a board of adjustment meeting and easily accommodated more than 60 people with 6-feet of social distancing and room for more. As we did at that meeting, face coverings and temperature checks will be required to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
This meeting will allow the public to hear the regulatory agencies who have been involved on scene since the pipeline leak was detected last Friday, August 14th on its underground pipeline crossing the Oehler Nature Preserve owned by Mecklenburg County in the Town’s extra-territorial jurisdiction. There has been an all hands on deck approach thus far. Since discovery of the leak, Huntersville Fire Department has been on scene 24/7 leading fire suppression and prevention activities as the leak was repaired. Contract fire departments later joined those efforts. Mecklenburg County stated Monday that Public Health had been updated on the situation and did not believe there was any threat to the potable drinking water wells at that time due to the nature of the spill and depths of the water wells. However, testing and monitoring will be ongoing into the future. Additionally, Mecklenburg County Public Health will also be conducting independent testing.
Colonial Pipeline has worked with property owners within a 2,000’ radius around the leak site to test their wells. Sampling has been completed for most of those identified but there are a handful of property owners they are still trying to contact. If you are near the site at 14511 Huntersville-Concord Road and/or near the Oehler Nature Preserve and are curious as to whether or not your well should be tested, please contact Colonial Pipeline at https://sr2448.colonialresponse.com/ask-a-question/. You can also contact the Town at townhall@huntersville.org with your name, address and contact information and we’ll make sure you are contacted regarding your well. Colonial Pipeline is communicating the testing results to individual property owners and reporting them to NC Department of Environmental Quality.
Since discovery of the leak and start of repair, numerous experts, hydrologists, regulators and inspectors from the NC Department of Environmental Quality, the NC Department of Public Safety, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Mecklenburg County Public Health, Mecklenburg Air Quality and Mecklenburg County Water Quality and others have been actively involved on scene and will remain throughout subsequent phases of this incident as further impacts to the environment and public health and safety are identified and required of Colonial to remediate.
Information the Town has shared from Colonial Pipeline through this first phase of repair of the project has been supported and verified by Emergency Management and regulatory agencies involved in coordinating the response through an Incident Command System. As we move into the next phases, we will be sharing information and directing residents to websites that Mecklenburg County Water Quality and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality are creating for updates from the regulatory aspects of this incident.
Thursday’s meeting will be the first in a series of more formal updates to the community from regulatory agencies involved. Colonial Pipeline completed the repair of the pipeline Wednesday evening. That was the first priority for the 250+ responding on scene. Now, Colonial Pipeline is following the North Carolina Department of Environmental (NC DEQ) process for remediation and cleanup of the site and required testing and monitoring based on the ultimate evaluation of environmental impacts. All of this is under guidance and oversight of the NC Department of Environmental Quality. The federal EPA and Mecklenburg County environmental regulatory agencies continue to be involved. We will be working with Mecklenburg County Public Health as they will also be conducting independent testing.
According to the NC Department of Environmental Quality, we are currently in the Initial Abatement Phase of this project, which is being overseen by NC Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ). During this phase, Colonial Pipeline is responsible for stopping the leak and addressing impacted soils at the point of release, which has taken place. In addition, as part of this phase, soil and groundwater sampling will take place. Upon receipt of the Initial Assessment Report, NC DEQ will send out a Notice of Regulatory Requirements for a Comprehensive Site Assessment. In the Comprehensive Site Assessment (CSA), Colonial Pipeline will be required to fully delineate the groundwater plume and soil impacts. Upon approval of the CSA, NC DEQ will then request that a Corrective Action Plan be prepared. Colonial Pipeline and their consultants will present NC DEQ with a plan on the cleanup of any remaining soils and groundwater to NC DEQ’s 2L groundwater standards. The NC DEQ guidelines for non-UST releases can be found here: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/waste-management/ust/nonust-program.
The Town will continue to provide updates in coordination with our regulatory and emergency partners involved through our website and links to our partner websites throughout the duration of this situation. Residents can keep up with regular updates from Colonial Pipeline at the link below.
Previous Updates:
08/17/2020 Update on Colonial Pipeline Leak from Mecklenburg County - https://www.mecknc.gov/news/Pages/Update-on-Colonial-Pipeline-Release-in-Huntersville.aspx
Colonial Pipeline Response Website with Daily Updates, FAQs, etc. - https://sr2448.colonialresponse.com/
Original source: https://www.huntersville.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=357
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