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The 2013 Mayflower oil spill occurred on March 29, 2013, when the Pegasus Pipeline, owned by
ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...
and carrying Canadian Wabasca
heavy crude Heavy crude oil (or extra heavy crude oil) is highly viscous oil that cannot easily flow from production wells under normal reservoir conditions. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light cru ...
from the
Athabasca oil sands The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventi ...
, ruptured in
Mayflower, Arkansas Mayflower is a city in Faulkner County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,234 at the 2010 census, up from 1,631 at the 2000 census. It is located in the Central Arkansas region. History Mayflower is a small town located along Inte ...
, about northwest of
Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
releasing about of oil. Approximately United States Dept. of Justice (April 22, 2015)
ExxonMobil to Pay $5 Million to Settle U.S. and Arkansas Claims for 2013 Mayflower Oil Spill
Retrieved on 2022-12-12.
of
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
and water mix was recovered. Twenty-two homes were evacuated.Kristen Hays and Matthew Robinson (March 31, 2013
Exxon cleans up Arkansas oil spill; Keystone plan assailed
''Reuters''. Retrieved on: 2013-04-07.
The
United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
(EPA) classified the leak as a ''major spill''. Exxon's Pegasus pipeline carries of crude a distance of from
Patoka, Illinois Patoka is a village (United States)#Illinois, village in Marion County, Illinois, Marion County, Illinois, United States. The population was 525 at the 2020 census. History The village was named after a local Native American chieftain. Geograph ...
to
Nederland, Texas Nederland ( ) is a city in Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, Texas, United States. The population was 18,856 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city was settled in 1897 along what became Boston Avenue and was incorporated ...
. On April 2, 2013,
PHMSA The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is a United States Department of Transportation agency created in 2004, responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound trans ...
, the federal pipeline regulator, issued a corrective action order until repairs have been completed and all safety concerns addressed.Nuss, J. (April 2, 2013)
Arkansas Oil Spill Investigation: State Attorney General To Look Into ExxonMobil Pipeline Rupture
''Huffington Post''. Retrieved on: 2013-05-06.


Pegasus Pipeline

The Pegasus Pipeline, (a/k/a, EMPCO Pipeline, and the Magnolia Pipeline) is , and runs from Patoka IL to the Texas Gulf Coast. It was built in two segments between 1947-1954 as an oil pipeline, which shipped products from Corsicana Texas, both north for industrial uses, and south to Gulf Coast refineries. The flow of the southern section was reversed in 1995, and again in 2002. The northern section was abandoned in 2002, before being re-commissioned in 2005-2006 and reversed to carry diluted bitumen from Alberta Tar Sands to refiners in Texas. The pipeline sheet metal was manufactured by Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co, using a manufacturing process called LF-ERW (Low-Frequency Electric Resistance Welds). This process has been known to have latent defects which eventually leads to failures.
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is a United States Department of Transportation agency created in 2004, responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound trans ...
issued advisory bulletins in 1988 and 1989 to alert operators of factors contributing to failures of pipelines constructed with ERW pipe.


Substance spilled

There has been some controversy over the exact nature of the substance spilled in Mayflower. On April 5, the Environmental Protection Agency sent a request for more information about Wabasca Heavy—the oil that spilled on the Pegasus line on March 29. The EPA's question was: "Can the oil accurately be described as
oil sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous ...
oil, or a type of diluted bitumen (
dilbit Dilbit (diluted bitumen) is a bitumen diluted with one or more lighter petroleum products, typically natural-gas condensates such as naphtha. Diluting bitumen makes it much easier to transport, for example in pipelines. Per the Alberta Oil Sands B ...
)?" In his response on April 10, Richard Byrne, Exxon's assistant chief attorney of environmental and safety law stated: "Canadian producers report their production of Wabasca Heavy as bitumen."Gallucci, Maria (April 18, 2013)
Dilbit or Not? Wabasca Crude Is the Question
InsideClimate News. Retrieved on: 2013-06-05.
This contradicts statements by company officials that the substance spilled was simply "heavy oil," not oil sands bitumen. However, the Material Safety Data Sheet for the product confirms that the Wabasca Heavy is bitumen mixed with
hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...
diluent A diluent (also referred to as a filler, dilutant or thinner) is a diluting agent. Certain fluids are too viscous to be pumped easily or too dense to flow from one particular point to the other. This can be troublesome, because it might not be ...
s.


Response

Early images from local media showed crude oil running along a suburban street and across lawns. The pipeline was shut after the leak was discovered on March 29. Twenty-two homes were evacuated. The oil flowed into storm drains leading to nearby
Lake Conway Lake Conway is a lake in Arkansas. Lake Conway is the largest lake ever created by a state wildlife commission and the first to be created by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Lake Conway is located directly east of Mayflower, Arkansas, and ...
, a fishing lake. First responders, including fire fighters, city employees, county road crews and police built dikes to block culverts and stop the crude from fouling the lake. ExxonMobil deployed 3,600 feet (1,100 m) of
containment boom A containment boom is a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill. Booms are used to reduce the possibility of polluting shorelines and other resources, and to help make recovery easier. Booms help to concentrate oil in thicker sur ...
around the lake. ExxonMobil said that by early morning on March 30 there was no more oil spilling from the pipeline and trucks were there to assist with the cleanup. Residents of the homes evacuated were allowed to temporarily return to their homes escorted by police to retrieve personal items. ExxonMobil set up a claims hotline for affected residents. Officials from the EPA and the
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is a United States Department of Transportation agency created in 2004, responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound trans ...
(PHMSA) initiated an investigation of the spill. There have been varying estimates of how much crude spilled. Initially ExxonMobil did not state an exact amount. On March 30, the company reported that of oil and water mix had been recovered. The following day the company said of oil and water had been recovered. The company was unable to estimate how much of the total was oil and how much water. On April 10,
UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...
reported that around of oil were spilled but quoted Exxon as saying that the final volume would not be known until after the pipeline was repaired and refilled.United Press International (April 10, 2013)
Exxon faces deadline for oil spill
UPI.com Retrieved on: 2013-04-13.
Before determination of the penalties for the violations of federal and state environmental laws, the estimated amount was corrected to . On April 1, 2013, the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
announced it was closing the airspace from the ground to over the disaster area; the restriction spanned a radius. The ''
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas's counties. By virtue of one ...
'' reported that the FAA's restriction stated "only relief aircraft operations under direction of Tom Suhrhoff" were permitted to enter the designated airspace. Surhrhoff was identified as an "aviation advisor" to ExxonMobil. On April 3 the FAA changed the restriction level to allow media access stating the media should not have been restricted from this type of incident, also claiming FAA was responsible for the error. The flight restrictions over Mayflower were cancelled on April 5. On April 2, PHMSA issued a corrective action order to ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. preventing ExxonMobil from restarting operations on the affected segment of the pipeline until it is satisfied with repairs and all safety concerns have been addressed. According to the order: "continued operation of the Pegasus Pipeline would be hazardous to life, property, and the environment." Arkansas' Attorney General
Dustin McDaniel Dustin Blake McDaniel (born April 29, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th Attorney General of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015. McDaniel is the co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s State Attorneys General Group. He is also th ...
promised a state investigation into the cause and impact of the spill. In a letter to ExxonMobil McDaniel stated: "There are many questions and concerns remaining as to the long-term impacts, environmental or otherwise, from this spill," He asked ExxonMobil to preserve records pending his investigation. For several days after the spill, local residents complained about the "horrible smell" of the diluted bitumen.
Air quality monitoring An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
has been conducted by the EPA and ExxonMobil and posted online by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. According to Fox 16 News, the air quality readings have been reviewed by the Arkansas Department of Health and are below levels that will cause health effects for the general population except in cleanup areas where emergency responders are working. On April 10, Attorney General McDaniel hired disaster management firm Witt O'Brien's to analyze the cleanup process.


Effects

Members of the community have been engaged in gathering and spreading information about what happened due to the lack of media coverage about the event.


Water

Since the spill on March 29, there have been conflicting reports as to whether the oil sands oil has reached
Lake Conway Lake Conway is a lake in Arkansas. Lake Conway is the largest lake ever created by a state wildlife commission and the first to be created by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Lake Conway is located directly east of Mayflower, Arkansas, and ...
. Official reports have indicated that there is no oil in Lake Conway, but an independent study claims to have samples showing oil in the
water column The (oceanic) water column is a concept used in oceanography to describe the physical (temperature, salinity, light penetration) and chemical ( pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrient salts) characteristics of seawater at different depths for a defined ...
. Scott Smith of Opflex, an oil clean-up company, states that official samples are of surface water only: “Exxon and the EPA are taking instantaneous water samples, grab samples from the surface. Obviously if the contaminants in oil sands oil, and chemicals, are in the water column beneath the surface you’re not going to get any of those molecules to test.” Keith Stephens of Arkansas Game and Fish has countered these findings, pointing out that there have been no dead fish or other wildlife that would indicate that there is oil in the main body of the lake.


Air quality

While initial reports of air quality by the Arkansas Department of Health did not reveal levels that were of concern for health effects, monitoring by a citizens group has revealed significant readings of toxic chemicals. According to a representative of the Sierra Club: "Total toxic hydrocarbons were detected at more than 88,000 parts per billion in the ambient air."UPI.com (April 30, 2013)
"Citizen group sees 'toxic' oil soup in Arkansas"
''United Press International''. Retrieved on: 2013-05-05.
Exxon reported detecting benzene and other harmful chemicals in early sampling at Mayflower but said air and water quality was within safe limits. However, the report, released by the Faulkner Citizens Advisory Group, said residents were still showing symptoms of exposure to harmful chemicals, including
benzene Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...
and
toluene Toluene (), also known as toluol (), is a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon with the chemical formula , often abbreviated as , where Ph stands for the phenyl group. It is a colorless, water Water is an inorganic compound with the c ...
, more than four weeks after the spill.


Relationship to Keystone XL

One of the issues highlighted in national news coverage is the relationship to the
Keystone XL Pipeline The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010, formerly owned by TC Energy. It is now owned by South Bow, following TC Energy's spin off of its liquids business into a separate publi ...
that has been proposed to carry oil from Canada's oil sands to refineries on the US Gulf Coast. An article in the ''National Geographic News'' states: "Now, the broken conduit is at the center of a national debate—the plan to transport much larger volumes of heavy oil from the Canadian oil sands through the United States, through both older pipelines like Pegasus and new ones like the proposed Keystone XL."Bret Schulte (April 4, 2013)
Oil Spill Spotlights Keystone XL Issue: Is Canadian Crude Worse?
''National Geographic News''. Retrieved on: 2013-04-08
A ''Reuters'' article quotes Representative
Ed Markey Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of ...
, a Massachusetts Democrat as saying: "Whether it's the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, or ... (the) mess in Arkansas, Americans are realizing that transporting large amounts of this corrosive and polluting fuel is a bad deal for American taxpayers and for our environment." The article notes that a report from the
Canadian Energy Pipeline Association Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
, put together by oil and gas consultancy Penspen, argues that "diluted bitumen is no more corrosive than other heavy crude." This latter claim has not been verified by independent peer-reviewed research and is the subject of a current study by the National Academy of Sciences.


Investigative journalism

On July 22, 2013, ''
InsideClimate News ''Inside Climate News'' is a non-profit news organization, focusing on environmental journalism about the climate crisis. The publication conducts watchdog journalism on climate policy, climate misinformation, and environmental injustice.
'' and the ''
Arkansas Times ''Arkansas Times'', a weekly alternative newspaper based in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, is a publication that has circulated more than 40 years, originally as a magazine. Founded as a small magazine on newsprint in 1977 by publisher A ...
'' announced that a
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
initiative had amassed over $25,000 to fund two reporters to investigate the causes and consequences of the spill. ''Inside Climate News'' noted that ExxonMobil had not yet explained the cause of the 22-foot-long (7 m) gash in the pipeline, nor stated how much oil had been spilled. The oil company has maintained that the results of an inspection it conducted of the pipeline are not available to the public. The ''Inside Climate News'' article stated: "That leaves two critical questions unanswered: Did Exxon manage and test its broken Pegasus pipeline according to established guidelines? And, if it did, is the Arkansas accident a warning that other pipelines might be at risk?"Feldman, Stacey (July 22, 2013)
InsideClimate News, Arkansas Times Reach Funding Goal to Conduct Oil Spill Investigation
''Inside Climate News''. Retrieved: 2013-07-22.
The two reporters chosen for this assignment are Elizabeth McGowan and Sam Elfing. McGowan was part of the ''InsideClimate News'' team that won the 2013
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily ...
for its coverage of the 2010
Kalamazoo River oil spill The Kalamazoo River oil spill occurred in July 2010 when a pipeline operated by Enbridge (Line 6B) burst and flowed into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan. A break in the pipeline resulted in one of the ...
. Eifling is an Arkansas native who has written for a variety of publications, including ''Slate'' and the ''
Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...
''.


Legal action

Residents of Mayflower are seeking payment from ExxonMobil for the environmental damage caused by the spill. By initiating action, they've forced the state and federal governments to file a lawsuit against the company. According to Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, the lawsuit came quickly—within three months after the spill—but he said that the governments were forced to act. Citizens may file suits in lieu of the government, if the government won't act. A threatened lawsuit from displaced residents forced the state and federal government to file suit, or lose the opportunity. "We had 60 days to either resolve our claims or be masters of our own ship and, certainly, I think that the
Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
and the State Attorney General’s office have a responsibility to litigate on behalf of the governments of the state and the federal government rather than abdicating that to private lawyers," McDaniel said. Commenting about ExxonMobil, McDaneil added: "I think that they have done a really good job with response and cleanup, but then they break the law when they store the stuff that they removed from the site." The company had stored materials, including soil, water, concrete and wood chips, in large barrels at a company-owned site nearby. Arkansas officials had not granted permission to store hazardous material and have ordered the company to stop immediately. According to Fox 16 News, local residents banded together on April 5, 2013 and April 8, 2013 at a "Mayflower Oil Spill Town Meeting hosted by Johnson & Vines Attorneys" to discuss their legal rights. Since that time, in addition to the State action file by the Attorney General, a mass action has been filed by two law firms in Arkansas state court in Faulkner County, Arkansas: Johnson & Vines (member of the American Injury Attorney Group) and partnering firm, Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton. In 2015, ExxonMobil settled charges that it violated the federal Clean Water Act and state environmental laws, for $5.07 million, including $4.19 million in civil penalties. It did not admit liability.


Findings

Several problems with the pipe seam were identified as the cause of the failure. Hook cracks, extremely low impact toughness, and elongation properties were named for the pipe tested. The low-frequency electric resistance weld ( ERW) pipe manufacturing process, used to make this pipe, has been known to have weaknesses with hook cracks and hardness issues.


See also

*
List of oil spills This is a reverse-chronological list of oil spills that have occurred throughout the world and spill(s) that are currently ongoing. Quantities are measured in tonnes of crude oil with one tonne roughly equal to 308 US gallons, 256 Imperial gallon ...
*
List of pipeline accidents in the United States This list of pipeline accidents in the United States provides access to links for various timeframes, which are sometimes quite extensive. Before 1970 * List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 * List of pipeline accidents in t ...


References


External links


6 things you need to know about the Arkansas oil spill
''Salon''.

''The Huffington Post''.
Interactive Google Map
- Map prepared by community members indicating oil damage and other effects.

On Wings of Care .org flyover Day 15- Friday 2013 April 12

PHMSA Report. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayflower oil spill Oil spills in the United States 2013 disasters in the United States 2013 industrial disasters 2013 in the environment Environment of Arkansas ExxonMobil oil spills Disasters in Arkansas 2013 in Arkansas 2013 Mayflower oil spill