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Community Corner

County Plans To Test More Wells Near Jet Fuel Spill

The three wells nearest to the spill have passed contamination tests. Meanwhile, a public forum on the issue is planned.

The county health department plans to test more water wells near a pipeline that leaked jet fuel along Broadway near Williams Road in Mango.

The pipeline, which carries jet and diesel fuel to Orlando,. It was repaired three days later but not before leaking 31,500 gallons of jet fuel into a small creek just behind the Sabal Business Park.

Residents and environmental experts were concerned the fuel might leak into the Tampa Bypass Canal, a source of drinking water for the county.

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Three water wells within ¼ mile of the leak all got a clean bill of health after tests earlier this week carried out by Kinder Morgan, the pipeline’s owner.

The Hillsborough County Department of Health is awaiting results of its own tests on those wells but doesn’t expect find any contamination.

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Those wells will be tested weekly for the next month, said Steve Huard, a spokesman for the department of health. “We will also be working with the county’s Environmental Protection Commission and the Department of the Environment to determine what kind of future testing might be required,” Huard said.

An information line — 877-936-2253 — has also been set up for residents with questions about the release.  The line will be open 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

The department of health also plans to test wells serving homes along Valley Tree Drive and Julian Road as a precaution, Huard said. Those wells are between ¼ and ½ mile of the leak.

“They are well outside where we would expect anything to happen,” Huard said, "but just to be safe and give those residents a good level of confidence nothing is happening to their wells, we have offered to test those wells free of charge. We are doing it out of an abundance of caution. I don’t think they have anything to worry about.”

Working at the site for a week now, Kinder Morgan cleanup crews are removing some vegetation and contaminated soil and flushing water through the area to capture more fuel, which is then siphoned into larger container trucks.

The cleanup should be complete by early August, said Joe Hollier, a Kinder Morgan spokesman.

“But that is a tentative date based on the progress they make and the weather,” Hollier said.

County, state and federal agencies are overseeing the cleanup.

Kinder Morgan will also conduct long-term cleanup activities. “Just to make sure everything meets the environmental standards,” Hollier said.

The county has also answered the call for a public forum on the topic.

Terry Flott, chairman of the 600-member United Citizens' Action Network, had been in the wake of the leak.

“(A public meeting) is something that I think is really needed,” said Flott, a Seffner resident. “We need to make sure everyone who was involved in this is there to answer questions for everyone who was impacted by this, and we need to know what the emergency action plan is for future spills or leaks.”

The date and location of the public meeting should be announced next week.

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