But they say the leak was very small and containment booms and absorbent pads were immediately put into the water. We put booms and pads into the creek as soon as we noticed a sheen. The company has made changes since November, including daily maintenance on the wells and a new notification procedure that requires three specific Olympic employees to be notified immediately if there is a leak and for one of those employees to be responsible for immediately calling state officials. That is true, it was a communication failure on our part. It's unclear whether the company will face fines for not notifying the state.
Notification is required by law.
Olympic also agreed to immediate notification as part of an agreement signed in the wake of the June 10 leak, which spilled more than 200,000 gallons of gasoline into the soils and creeks surrounding the pipeline. After the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed most of the soils saturated with gasoline from the area, an interception well was built along a ridge between the leak site and Whatcom Creek. The well is meant to catch any groundwater containing remaining gasoline remnants before the water flows downhill into the creek. On Nov. 18, a Department of Ecology employee was working near the creek when he noticed an area in Whatcom Creek was surrounded by a containment boom and absorbent pads. He also smelled gasoline in the air.