Illinois EPA Refers Wood River Pipe Lines, LLC and Buckeye Partners, LP to Attorney General for Enforcement

SPRINGFIELD— Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Lisa Bonnett has referred an enforcement action to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office against Wood River Pipe Lines, LLC and Buckeye Partners, LP, for a release of gasoline, diesel, and gasoline/diesel mixture from pipelines in Limestone Township, Kankakee County, resulting in an estimated 1,500 gallons of gasoline/diesel mixture being released onto farm property on March 14, 2014.
 
In the referral, the Agency asks the Attorney General to obtain an interim injunctive order seeking numerous actions from Wood River and Buckeye in accordance with an Illinois EPA-approved schedule.  Actions include reports, on-going site investigations, proposed plans for monitoring, investigation and remediation of contamination.  The companies would also be expected to continue implementing potable well sampling of nearby residences. 

The point of origin of the release is a section underneath State Route 113, near the intersection with West Road 2750.  The release was detected during the early morning of Friday, March 14, due to petroleum odors.  The release is approximately one quarter mile from a residential subdivision and approximately one half mile from the Kankakee River. 

Illinois EPA was notified of the situation on March 14, 2014, and since that time has been working in conjunction with other members of the Unified Incident Command, including U.S. EPA, the Kankakee Fire Department and other state and local officials.

Through the referral, the Illinois EPA also refers violations of the Environmental Protection Act, including causing air pollution and offensive conditions in the ambient air; depositing contaminants upon land in such a place and manner so as to create a water pollution hazard to area groundwater and the Kankakee River; and threatening a violation of groundwater quality of wells used by nearby residents. 

The Agency will seek a causation report and a statement of the preventive measures Wood River and Buckeye plan to take to prevent similar pipeline releases.