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EPA Announces Plan to Fine Connecticut Oil Delivery Company

Release Date: 06/18/2002
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office, 617-918-1008

BOSTON – The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has reached a settlement with a Connecticut oil delivery company for an oil spill which fouled a wetland in August 2000.

The company, Deep River Oil Co. Inc. of Deep River, Conn., will pay a penalty of $5,000. In addition, the company has agreed to implement an EPA administrative order to make substantial improvements to its facility to prevent oil spills and to protect the environment from future oil spills should they occur.

The improvements include construction of secondary containment for their truck loading area, replacement of riveted oil storage tanks, testing and replacement, if appropriate, of welded oil storage tanks, and installation of overfill and sump alarms.

"Some of these improvements suggested by the company go beyond what EPA might have ordered Deep River Oil to undertake," said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office. "This shows that the company is aware of what environmental harm was caused by the oil spill and it also shows their commitment to being good environmental stewards in the future."

The case stems from an incident Aug. 7, 2000 when an employee of Deep River Oil was transferring oil from a storage tank to a tank truck at its facility off Route 80. The employee left the truck unattended during the transfer and after the truck's tank filled completely, 2,500 gallons of oil overflowed onto the ground.

Oil flowed about 75 feet into an adjacent wetland. The wetland flows into Platts Reed Pond which ultimately flows into the Connecticut River.

The spill was one of the more significant in New England and took eight days to clean up.

In addition to the spill, Deep River Oil did not have an adequate spill prevention, control, and countermeasure – or SPCC – plan. The plan had not been reviewed every three years, it did not meet guidelines set forth for preparation and implementation of an SPCC, and was deficient on the following counts:

• It did not account for the full oil storage capacity of the facility.
• It lacked proper tank inspection procedures.
• The facility did not have proper containment or diversionary equipment to lessen the effect of an oil spill or prevent it from getting into the wetland.