40 Gallon Diesel Tank

Multi-car, tractor-trailer crash on I-95 causes spill of fuel, lubricants that washed into popular Old Greenwich park during early morning heavy rains.

A large turtle amid the oily muck in Binney Park Pond where an oily sheen was caused in part by a diesel fuel spill from an I-95 tractor trailer crash early Friday.

The bucolic aesthetics of Binney Park were disturbed Friday morning by the stench of diesel fuel, and the spreading oily sheen throughout the park stream and pond, much to the chagrin of residents and park visitors. The environmental intruder apparently is the result of a multi tractor-trailer and car collision shortly before 2:30 a.m. Friday in the southbound lanes of Interstate 95, between exits 6 and 5.

About 40 gallons of fuel, transmission fluid and engine oil, drained from the wreck and some of it was washed into nearby storm sewers by the overnight heavy rains. The sewers drain into Cider Mill Creek on Center Drive and continue downstream into the park pond and ultimately into Long Island Sound.

VIDEO: Binney Park Pond Contaminated with Diesel, Oil - Patch.com

A 1 million gallon steel reservoir tank is under construction on 2.75 acres of land purchased from the Campbell Group last year east of Gearhart.

Tennis courts will return to Gearhart after completion of the 500,000-gallon concrete clear well tank. Gearhart City Administrator Chad Sweet hopes to have the courts ready by spring.

Workers with R & G Excavating, of Scio, backfill a ditch while laying down pipe south along McCormick Gardens Road toward Salminen Road in Gearhart Tuesday. The pipe will eventually connect to the new 1-million gallon steel reservoir tank to existing pipe that runs just north of Pacific Way.

Gearhart Public Works Director Mark McFadden is supervising the project that involves connecting 1,400 homes and businesses to the new water system.

Gearhart clears way for thirsty residents - Daily Astorian

Even now that diesel costs about 20 cents more than gasoline per gallon, Shipp says the up-front cost is quickly recovered. "I had to really sit down and consider the benefits of what it would cost me to buy a diesel mower – my first unit in 1996 was about $2,000 more than the gasoline mower," he says. Since that time, Shipp has purchased 13 diesel mowers and only retired three of them.

Shipp took an alternative route 15 years ago before options like propane existed for landscape equipment and trucks, and before electric equipment was anything more than light-duty stuff for people living on postage stamp lots. Today, landscape companies that want to explore power beyond the gasoline pump have choices to make.

Plus, with tightening emissions regulations in some states and an overriding theme of greening up the green industry (now, some customers are talking sustainability), alternatives like clean-burning propane and emissions-free electric are appealing.

Besides, Triick felt he couldn't pull up to a job site with gas-burning engines if his company mission was centered on being environmentally friendly. "I believe in the future, it will be required to consider Earth-friendly options if you want to work with certain customers," he says.

What's the alternative - Lawn & Landscape

Some residents refer to it as the Sleeping Giant. An eight-inch-diameter Navy pipeline, carrying diesel and jet fuel from Point Loma to Miramar, lies beneath San Diego streets and canyons. Each year, 323 million gallons of fuel are pumped through the pipe at 800 pounds of pressure per square inch. The pipeline is 57 years old.

Jim Gilhooly, a 26-year resident of Point Loma, has 40 years of experience in the pipeline industry, including work on the Alaska pipeline. As Gilhooly tells it, the Navys pipe should have been replaced 20 years ago.

Gilhoolys Point Loma home perches above San Diego Bay, overlooking Defense Fuel Support Point, Point Loma, the largest naval fuel farm in the world. Gilhooly says the pipelines ¼-inch walls have worn thin from corrosion, and because the fuel is pumped in intervals, the line is susceptible to corrosion from condensation. He warns of the consequences if the pipe were to rupture. He cites the ExxonMobil pipeline that ruptured last July in Montana.

Gilhoolys Point Loma home perches above San Diego Bay, overlooking Defense Fuel Support Point, Point Loma, the largest naval fuel farm in the world. Gilhooly says the pipelines ¼-inch walls have worn thin from corrosion, and because the fuel is pumped in intervals, the line is susceptible to corrosion from condensation. He warns of the consequences if the pipe were to rupture. He cites the ExxonMobil pipeline that ruptured last July in Montana. Some people think that a leak would be like a dribble coming from a faucet, but when youre working with 800 [pounds per square inch of pressure], when that gets a leak, that will shoot half of a mile, like a shot out of a gun, he says. Depending on when they catch that break, if they are using pumps that are 2000 gallons per minute, then the spill would be substantial. Not only does the fuel have a high flash point, but you also have the fuel vapor and the environmental impacts.

Hidden Pipeline, Secret Menace? - San Diego Reader

No, U.S. motorists, you haven't been imagining it: despite a large decline in oil prices since May, gas prices have taken a longer time to fall than to rise.

Gas prices rocketed up about $1.85 per gallon in just two short months this spring, to an average price for regular unleaded of about $4 per gallon in May from about $3.15 per gallon in late February.

The push higher was propelled largely by a surge in oil prices, which rose from about $84 per barrel to about $114 per barrel during the same period.

However, since May, the price of crude has tumbled, due to concerns about the durability of the U.S. and European economic recoveries and the ouster of Libya's Moammar Gadhfi, with crude falling to about $86 per barrel in mid-October.

Drop in Crude Prices Doesn't Mean Savings at the Pump - International Business Times