1. How long are authorities allowed to keep hazardous material spills secret before warning the public about the hazardous stuff going into local recreational waters? It took Fox10 News to finally bring the fuel spill to the public's knowledge weeks after the authorities knew about this fuel oil pollution in Montlimar Creek on December 1st.
2. How often does the WAVE inspect their water-oil separator? If they did, they would have seen standing water at the inlet and manholes which you can see in the below photos. The dark stain around the water-oil separator area and standing water should have been a easy to see warning flag to WAVE personnel that there might be a problem.
3. Did the City of Mobile WAVE Bus Transit Facility know about the petroleum problem and try to cover it up?
There were WAVE people out putting down absorbent fuel spill kitty litter like stuff immediately after I asked for permission to inspect around their diesel tanks for any leaks but was denied access. The dead give away is instead of the WAVE people going to the fuel tanks, they were treating areas at the edge of the parking lot. Almost like they already knew where to go.The area in the corner by the fuel spill looks like alot of absorbent material had been put there in the past. I'm willing to bet WAVE personnel have been dealing with a some of the fuel leak.
4. How often does the WAVE pick up LITTER from the City of Mobile property? If the workers at that bus facility picked up the trash along the north fence, some of it would have been dripping with fuel oil and would no doubt be quite smelly. Ignore the little problems and the big ones will sneak up on you.
5. How often does Mobile Group monitor the testing of local waterways? If someone was doing monthly testing in Montlimar Creek, someone should have noticed and smelled the awful petroleum on the water. Even after it was noted, the problem was not diligently investigated.
6. How long are Environmental Inspectors who are sent to investigate reported fuel spills required to inspect before they are allowed to "give up" trying to find the source? Did the Alabama Department of Environmental Management or the United States Coast Guard mobilize anyone else like city inspectors to help in the search for the fuel leak? Blaming persistent fuel sheens in Montlimar Creek on parking lot rain runoff when it hasn't rained in a while is an ignorant response.
7. Is there no ADEM GIS map showing who is permitted to have huge Diesel Fuel tanks on their properties? The National Response Center was told back on December 1st that the source of the petroleum spill was somewhere between Airport Blvd and Michael Blvd along Montlimar Creek. Sure enough, almost in the middle between Airport Blvd and Michael Blvd, less than two tenths of a mile from Montlimar Creek, in the vicinity of two huge above ground diesel tanks, there was the source of the persistent fuel spill.
8. After authorities see exactly where the fuel oil is coming from, how long are the Authorities allowed to wait before calling in the hazmat fuel spill recovery specialists? Temi with ADEM saw the fuel in the ditch yesterday afternoon. The first containment boom didn't go out till about noon today almost 24 hours later, and that was only in the ditch. No effort as of this afternoon, had been made to stop the fuel from coming out of the pipe into Montlimar Creek. No oil boom was seen anywhere in Montlimar Creek.
If an 18 wheeler had overturned and ended up in a ditch on the side of the interstate with a leaking fuel tank, a hazmat response team would likely be out in hours shutting down the road if necessary to contain the diesel oil spill. Authorities would have the leaking fuel situation resolved in a few hours.
The fuel oil or its related smelly sheen is still flowing down Montlimar Creek as of this afternoon. Why?
Someone needs to ask some hard ass questions and not take "No Response" as an answer because if fuel oil spills are mishandled as badly as this one has been by authorities in Mobile, a HUGE oil pipeline under Mobile's drinking water suppy leaking would mean multi-county disaster.
Why, if Big Creek Lake drinking water supply was polluted by tens of thousands of barrels of oil, residents in Mobile might have to drink the fuel coated water out of Montlimar Creek. Wouldn't that be ironic eh? Ha!