The Dalles Project Spill
(Information on this site is considered to be accurate at the time of posting, but is subject to change as new information becomes available.)

Dalles Spill Close Out Statement

Independent Review

The Ecology Spills Program contracted for an independent review of this spill to capture high value lessons learned. Real-world spill responses are infrequent and costly and Ecology is constantly looking for opportunities to maximize its learning.
 

This report provides another valuable learning tool. (In PDF; get free  Adobe Reader software)

Cleanup of the Dalles Oil Spill Was Delayed

Oil Spill Management
On Thursday, January 15, 2004 the Corps of Engineers reported that the Dalles Dam had experienced an oil spill of less than 25 gallons. Ecology’s On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) and his deputy OSC immediately responded to the scene from the Yakima regional office. Because of concerns regarding the Corps’ past spill reporting practices and uncertainty about the current spill, the Ecology Spill Team brought in an additional highly experienced investigator on the following day to assist the Corps in its investigation and to help determine the actual volume of oil spilled.

The “less than 25 gallons” initially reported, far underestimated the actual volume of oil spilled. It was not until Ecology personnel flew over the River on Saturday that the full extent of the oil slick was known (see the above photograph taken during the flight). It was eventually determined that a total of about 2,050 gallons of transformer oil containing PCBs had entered the river. The lack of an accurate spill volume during the early stages of the spill incident made it very difficult to properly manage the spill response, and to deploy enough clean-up equipment and personnel.

Other problems also affected the initial clean-up. Oil spill containment and recovery boom was not placed in the river until 6 hours after the spill was identified, there was a shutdown of response operations on Thursday night because of safety concerns, and the Corps’ incident management team was under staffed and did not provide adequate support for the Unified Command. Information was also not always released in a timely manner. By the time the actual volume of the spill was established, most of the oil had already moved downstream and was no longer recoverable.

During the early stages of the spill, Ecology ramped-up its response capability by sending additional personnel to the dam. By Sunday, Ecology had 12 members of its spill team on scene.

Future Oil Spill Response Planning
While they were not well prepared for this incident, the Corps has since committed to acquiring and staging oil spill containment booms at the dam. They have also committed to training employees to deploy spill recovery equipment in the river during maintenance operations and in response to spill emergencies. The Corps’ program will require periodic training and practice to maintain an adequate state of readiness, but the benefits should far exceed the costs. The Department of Ecology stands ready to help the Corps develop an effective program, but has not yet received a request for assistance.

The Transformer Oil Contained PCBs

The Department of Ecology intends to fully examine the PCB implications of this spill and make sure that concerns are properly addressed. Several important points on the PCB issue follows.
• While low levels of PCBs are ubiquitous in the environment from past industrial practices, it is the goal of the Department of Ecology to eliminate any new sources of PCB, and to reduce the ambient concentration to the lowest possible level.
• The production of PCBs has been banned in the United States since 1977. PCBs are persistent toxic chemicals that can bioaccumulate in fish and other organisms with the potential to cause human and environmental health problems. The threshold concentration that can cause human effects is not fully understood.
• Ecology has adopted a strategy to address Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxicants (PBTs) such as PCBs. Ecology is working during the 2004 legislative session to obtain additional funding for this effort. Governor Locke’s budget proposes an additional $436 thousand for this work.
• The total amount of PCBs in the oil that was spilled (reported to be 8.0 milligrams per liter of oil) was not large in everyday terms. However, because they are PBTs Ecology is very concerned about the potential long-term impact of the spill. It is interesting to note that the current EPA limit on PCBs in drinking water is 0.0005 milligrams of PCBs per liter (0.0005 mg/L). We do not want any of our state’s waters to even approach this concentration.
• The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) web site is good source of information on a number of human health problems caused by PCBs. This web site can be accessed through the link provided under “Other Sources.” Among other issues, the web site discusses the neurobehavioral and developmental deficits that have been documented in newborn babies that were exposed to PCBs through their mother’s diet, which included fish with moderate to high PCB content.
• In addition to reproductive and developmental effects; PCBs can affect the skin, endocrine organs, the liver, likely cause cancer, and adversely affect the cardiovascular, immune, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal systems.

Many questions remain regarding environmental contamination as a result of the spill. Ecology has asked the Corps to submit and implement a sampling plan to determine the extent of PCB contamination in Columbia River sediments, river water, and fish. As of March 4, 2004 (seven weeks after the spill), the Corps had not submitted their sampling plan to Ecology. Every day that passes reduces the value of the environmental sampling effort.

The Dalles Oil Spill Was Preventable
After the spill, the Corps convened an independent panel of experts to determine the cause of the spill. On February 9, 2004 the evaluation panel concluded that maintenance and inspection procedures, and the condition of old equipment contributed to the spill. The panel also determined that the transformer's water-based cooling system should have been drained when the transformer was taken out of service in October 2003. Among other things, they concluded that the immediate cause of the spill was a water pipe that cracked during freezing weather. The report was prepared by: Mitchell Samuelian, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colo.; Gary Sanford, Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, Ore.; and Jim Blankenship, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Glen Canyon Dam, Calif. (retired). Ecology is encouraged that the Corps of Engineers’ initiated the investigation that identified deficiencies with the ultimate goal of preventing future spills. Also encouraging, was Corps of Engineers’ Portland District Operations manager Deborah Chenoweth’s commitment to immediately begin addressing the issues that were identified. Ecology plans to work with the Corps to ensure that these and other changes are implemented. Ecology’s investigation is still underway.

The Dalles has 2 Additional Spills in February

Monday, February 23, 2004
On Monday, February 23, 2004 another spill occurred when maintenance crews “spun” the turbine in main generating unit No. 3 in preparation for maintenance work. When the turbine was rotated, oil trapped in that unit was discharged into the Columbia River downstream of the dam. The Corps reported that about 15 gallons mineral oil was discharged.

Friday, February 27, 2004
The Corps reported a spill on February 27, 2004 that they estimated to involve “upwards of 50 gallons of oil.” The oil sheen was reported to cover an acre-sized area of the Columbia River downstream of the dam.