Diesel spill cleanup threatens dwelling

PENDLETON, Ore. — The cleanup of a 5,000-gallon fuel spill is prompting long-term environmental concerns and threatening a house on a ranch near Pendleton where an excavating machine clearing contaminated soil continues to gnaw inside a growing canyon.

The opening is now about 20 feet from the home where ranch worker Matt Bostwick lived with his wife, Donna, and three children before they evacuated to a rental in Pendleton. They left after a tractor-trailer crashed March 1 outside their property, spilling thousands of gallons of diesel fuel into the earth and imperiling the air quality inside the house.

A team of state workers and contractors launched a cleanup effort, trying to find the diesel fuel that tends to sink straight down and then travel sideways in various directions like the arms of an octopus. So far, only the north side of the pit has tested free of fuel.

The cleanup has become extensive and is likely to be expensive, the East Oregonian reported Monday. Each morning, key players gather around a table in the command center — a trailer with a satellite dish, generator and meeting room.

Mike Renz of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality heads the effort, bolstered by three environmental recovery companies and a team of heavy equipment operators, geologists and others.

Maverik, the company that owns the truck, frequently has representatives and insurers at the site. The company owns about 260 gas station convenience stores. The truck had been traveling on Oregon 37 on its way from Pasco to Boise, Idaho.

Guided by sensors that detect the fuel, excavators continue to bite away at contaminated soil. So far, the machines have dug out about 18,000 cubic yards of earth, Renz said.

As for the house, air quality inside is a concern, Renz said. The cleanup team has noted that Maverik and the property owners are negotiating an agreement to knock down the home so there’s no chance future occupants would be exposed to diesel vapor.

“We really have long-term concerns,” said Fritz Hill, one of the owners of the ranch operation. “The magnitude of this continues to grow; this has gotten bigger than I ever imagined.”