THE BIG STINK
MYSTERY ODOR SPARKS PROBE; PIPELINE LEAK CAUSES SCARE
“At first we were very afraid because we thought it was gas. Many of the other people were evacuating. My two neighbors and I were at the door, then we came out here (to the parking lot) but it got so intense that we went inside. It was bothering our throats and making us feel a little nauseous. The firemen told us it started in Aston and as petroleum oil, not gas, and one of the valves blew and went down the line. They reassured us that that was what it was supposed to do.”
— Marian Garrity, Turnbridge Apartments resident
MEDIA » A valve malfunction caused a petroleumbased product to leak from a Sunoco pumping station near the Tunbridge Apartments on Glen Riddle Road Monday night, though no medical incidents were reported and the situation was brought under control fairly quickly, according to Delaware County Emergency Services Director Tim Boyce.
Boyce said there was no determination by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as to what caused the leak by Tuesday afternoon, but he intends to deliver a report to county council at its regular meeting Wednesday morning on the leak as well as an apparently unrelated noxious odor detected in the southern part of the county earlier Monday.
“While not ruling it out, it’s most unlikely the two are related,” he said. “(The pumping station) leaked a significant amount, product came out, whereas the odor was down by the river – the wind was blowing the other way.”
The odor by the river was first reported just after 9:30 a.m. around the Boeing plant in Ridley Township. By noon, calls started coming in from all across Chester complaining of a heavy odor of gas.
Boyce said his department worked with first responders and the DEP to try to pinpoint the source of the smell, but the concentration was too thin for meters to pick up.
His office had been in contact with industries along the waterfront but no one had reported a release. The smell appeared to be traveling with the wind along the southern part of the county through Chester, Eddystone, Ridley Park and Glenolden before dissipating.
Later in the evening, Boyce said the 911 Center received calls from citizens complaining of the smell of gas in the Middletown area, this time near the apartment complex. A police officer came to the location and reported a “significant leak,” prompting fire departments in the area to respond as well. They were able to trace the leak back to the pumping station, where Boyce said they found contractors already working on the problem.
Representatives for Sunoco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The leak was from an old petroleum pipeline, and was not connected to the controversial Mariner East pipeline project.
“The firefighters came up and they had a gauge to see if there was gas,” said Kathy McGuire, who moved into the Tunbridge Apartments with her husband, Joe, six months ago.
“They said shelter in place,” said Joe McGuire. “They thought they had a mist coming out of a gauge.”
“At first we were very afraid because we thought it was gas,” said Marian Garrity, another apartment resident. “Many of the other people were evacuating. My two neighbors and I were at the door, then we came out here (to the parking lot) but it got so intense that we went inside. It was bothering our throats and making us feel a little nauseous. The firemen told us it started in Aston and as petroleum oil, not gas, and one of the valves blew and went down the line. They reassured us that that was what it was supposed to do.”
Garrity said there were numerous fire departments on hand and that firefighters checked the air quality inside each apartment individually to ensure there were no volatile organic compounds lingering.
“The odor was terrible,” she said. “It was really pungent. Some of the people out here had scarves wrapped around their face the odor was so bad.”
Boyce said his team also performed air monitoring at the site, but found the affected area was safe within about 100 feet, at the station’s property line.
“It smelled and it stunk, there’s no doubt about it, but our independent testing showed it was not hazardous beyond that point,” he said.
Boyce said the situation had been resolved by the time he left about 11:30 p.m. He added that he had heard some concern leaking petroleum had mixed with a nearby Aqua intake, but he said that had already been closed off and there was no cross contamination.
Boyce said the DEP would investigate, and track cleanup and remediation. In the meantime, he said, county council and several state lawmakers have expressed an interest in getting to the bottom of the odor that hit the county earlier Monday, as well as a similar incident about two weeks ago reported in the western part of the county.
“It’s very frustrating that we haven’t found the source of these odors,” he said. “Council will probably ask for a larger discussion involving all stakeholders (today).”