11 Weeks and Counting

11 Weeks and Counting

 

 

The last update on Aliceville was at 9 weeks.

This update will cover the period from 01/19/14 to 01/26/14.

On January 19, 2014 I went to the site of the Aliceville Train wreck to assess the site from the ground. I was accompanied by my good friend and photographer, Ken Robinson. We went to the South Providence Church Road first to get samples.

Photo Copyright, Ken Robinson

The water was low enough that we could walk up into the beaver pond a little bit and view the beaver dam ADEM and the rail road said held the oil from escaping the wetland.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 11/14/13 Flights by SouthWings

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 11/14/13

There was a new dam starting just above the road and it did look to be holding sheen along the top of the dam.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

We walked up to the point where the dam was and found heavy white foam coming through the dam. When ADEM said it was contained by a beaver dam, this is exactly what I had in mind. Beavers are smart enough to build them so the leak enough not to blow out. Oil containment wasn't in the beavers plans.

Photo Copyright Ken Robinson 01/19/14

So, how was it the a beaver dam held the oil out or in when there were thousands of gallons lost?

We did see sheen behind the dam and the stream below as full of white foam. When stirred with a stick, it separated and came back together just like oil does.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

We took our samples and went to the rail road tracks. We could hear heavy equipment working on the upstream side of the tracks. It turned out to be some sort of road building into the swamp above the train wreck. Not sure what that is about but we didn't want any confrontation so we kept our work along the downstream side to keep out of their way.

The site was in worse condition than I had ever seen it. It was evident that no one from the rail road "recovery" team or ADEM (Alabama Dep. of Environmental Management) had been there in weeks that I can document. At least there has been no repairs, or removal of saturated oil boom since it was installed in late Nov.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

There was heavy oiling coming from the railroad tracks where they were allowed to rebuild the tracks using the contaminated soil left after the wreck!

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 11/14/13 (Flight by SouthWings)

 Same site 01/22/14 on another SouthWings flight

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/22/14 (Flight by SouthWings)

Oil was weeping out of the banks in several places thick enough to get a good grab sample from the surface.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

A lot of the "oil recovery" devices were under water now and becoming part of the sediment. Every once in a while you could see droplets of oil sheen come from them and spread out on the surface.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

This was 74 days after the wreck.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/19/14

 On January, 22, 2014 I took to the air again with SouthWings pilot Dick McLaughlin. From the air I could see the fencing surrounding the "containment area" was in tatters. Some was visible under the water. Anything good they had done from mid November was now laying on the bottom soaking into the sediment.

 

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/22/14 (flight by SouthWings)

Heavy sheen could still be seen on the water even through the thin sheet of ice on the surface. 

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/22/14 (flight by SouthWings)

Along the downstream side of the tracks a heavy black line of contaminated soil could be seen from 1,500 feet high and about 1/4 mile out.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/22/14 (flight by SouthWings)

For several months now I have been visiting this site and seen no sign of people or remediation. On this flight I saw, 2 men in waders doing what looked like taking samples. 

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/22/14 (flight by SouthWings)

It was the first time since Late Nov. I truly believe it is because of the negative media that has recently surfaced about this so-called cleanup.

Following the Jan. 22 flight, I went back to the site to followup. Since the flight, someone had come in and replaced the white screens or re-hung the old ones is more like it. This was along the front where it could be seen from the tracks.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Along the back and more out of sight, the scene hadn't changed at all except to say there was more of the white screen down.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

A new string of the white pom-pom material was along the rail road but wasn't doing a lot for containing the oil. It still looks to me like this stuff repels the oil instead of soaking it up.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

There were some new sections of white oil boom added as well. It too looked to be fairly ineffective in removing oil. It couldn't have been there more than a couple of days and already looked to be ready for the landfill.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Many of the newly installed pom-poms were already sinking to the bottom again.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

The latest string of these devices actually look like discarded football pom-poms! (GO BAMA)

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Large pools of oil could still be seen along the tracks bleeding out of the ground. Even though the site had new "oil recovery devices" there was plenty of Bakken floating past the booms.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

 I used one of the larger holes along the track to take a sample. It was right against the track and alongside the water. I was expecting to get a sample of oiled water. I was surprised when nothing but pure undiluted Bakken crude ran into the jar! 

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Undiluted Bakken Crude from the ground at the Aliceville train wreck site 01/26/14

This was much heavier than it was it weeks ago. Some of the site looked to be in better condition but overall, it is getting worse in my opinion. The ground outside the white screens is saturated and letting off oil.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Unless there is a serious change in plans here for remediation, I am afraid this isn't going to get better for a long, long time.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

I left the rail road tracks to go to South Providence Church Road and collect samples from the beaver pond there. I was once again in for a shock. This is the beaver pond that ADEM claimed was holding back the oil for months. (at least that was their story and they were sticking to it). 

The pond was gone!

South Providence Church Road

Contractors, for some unknown reason, came in with heavy equipment and removed all of the beaver dams! If those ponds were holding back oil, why were they removed? Where is the oil now? We had OPFLEX sample indicators downstream so we will know soon what went through the pipe.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

Looking downstream from the big pond, it is a clear shot now to the road. Any oil that was behind the dams went through the culvert and out into the tributary that feeds Lubbub Creek.

Photo Copyright John L. Wathen 01/26/14

For the most part, this site looked to abandoned before this trip. Now, I can see activity but not too sure what it is all supposed to accomplish. EPA needs to step in here and do the right thing. Hole Genesee & Wyoming Railroad fully accountable for the damages and demand an oil removal plan using products that work better than this garbage! 

When Mike Smith of Opflex came over here with an offer to donate his product, he was threatened with arrest. The status quo isn't good enough any more. We need to get response technology caught up with extraction and transport of these new and explosive crude oils.