SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. — Clean up efforts are ongoing five days after approximately 25,000 gallons of gasoline were released from a vault associated with BP's Olympic Pipeline in Conway, Washington.
The pipeline, which was shut down on Sunday, was restarted on Dec. 13 after regulatory approval, a command team said. A lane of state Route 534 is reopened to traffic, but there is still substantial activity in the area.
Along with clean up efforts, environmental monitoring and an investigation must be completed.
One American beaver, one pine siskin bird, one mallard duck and one American widgeon duck have been found dead in the area of the spill, according to a news release from the Unified Command Team, which consists of representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Ecology, Skagit County and BP.
The release says teams evaluated 6,080 meters (3.7 miles) of shoreline and found 30 impacted by the spill.
While around 7,000 gallons of the 25,000 spilled have been recovered, more has evaporated into the air which makes it difficult to assess exactly how much gas still needs to be cleaned up, according to a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency on Dec. 15.
"People are going to continue to smell it, but that doesn't mean there are dangerous levels of gasoline," Bill Dunbar said. "We have community air monitors placed in several different locations and there's no risk to people."
Dunbar said there are some elevated levels close to the site. A representative for the Department of Ecology said on Dec. 11 that workers are wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment.
Rebecca Scales lives near the spill site and said the crews she's come into contact with are highly professional. However, she said she believes there should have been door-to-door communication immediately after the spill was detected and a community meeting to take questions from neighbors.
"Transparency around what caused it and making sure it never happens again- that's the bottom line," Scales said.
The command team says people can call 1-800-22BIRDS to report injured or dead wildlife and a claims center has been set up at 1-866-616-1558 for anyone who has experienced personal or property damages resulting from the spill.