Pipeline restarts after oil spill
Officials say no oil reached any Bastrop County water sources.
The Longhorn pipeline resumed normal operations on Sunday after a contractor last week struck a fitting, releasing 50,000 gallons of crude oil into a residential and commercial area in southwestern Bastrop County.
According to Magellan Midstream Partners, which owns the pipeline that carries crude oil from West Texas to Houston, the section that was damaged on Thursday has been repaired. Normal operations resumed on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Cleanup efforts are ongoing in Bastrop County.
On Friday, Magellan reported it had safely recaptured all the spilled oil and was working to replace the affected soil.
After brief evacuations, all residents of the area were allowed to return home Thursday, and the roadways were reopened the following day.
No one was injured in the incident, officials said.
Environmental and oil and gas specialists had gone into overdrive to clean up the spill, which forced 15 families to evacuate the area around FM 20 and Shiloh Road, about 4 miles southwest of Bastrop.
According to Magellan, one of its contractors struck a fitting on the pipeline at about 9:20 a.m. Thursday in the 400 block of FM 20, causing about 1,200 barrels — or 50,400 gallons — of crude oil to spill into the surrounding area.
The pipeline was immediately shut down, Magellan said, and the spill was isolated.
Authorities evacuated a 1-mile radius of the spill and sent residents to the River Valley Christian Fellowship church at Texas
71 and Texas 21 in Bastrop.
The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management asked the public avoid the area around FM 20 between Shiloh and Walter Hoffman roads.
Office of Emergency Management Assistant Deputy Director James Gabriel said it would be dangerous for people to inhale fumes from the spilled oil, which he added could also pose a fire risk.
About 100 emergency responders, environmental cleanup crews, local, state and federal employees, and Magellan employees joined the cleanup effort, Magellan spokesman Tom Byers said at the time.
Magellan sent vacuum trucks to the area to remove the spilled oil before starting excavations to remove and replace the affected soil, the company said.
None of the oil reached any Bastrop County water sources, according to officials.
A boil-water notice was issued in Bastrop on Friday after workers struck a water line near Bastrop State Park, and was unrelated to the spill.
About 100 emergency responders, environmental cleanup crews, local, state and federal employees, and Magellan employees joined the cleanup, Magellan spokesman Tom Byers said at the time.