The Big Spill - Part II

OK so if you haven't read the last post here then you should do so now. Here's an update about the day after on the pipeline.

So we're out on the north side of the Partridge River doing our thing, and I start digging with my soil auger. It's kinda flood plainish, and a remnant of melting from the last glaciation. Lots of sand surrounding the river. I get through about 18 inches of light brown sand and then pull out some black sandy loam. This is unusual, especially in a floodplain. I take a piece to see what it feels like. Feels sticky. Hrm...smells like petroleum. Hrm...sand is not supposed to be sticky and smell like petroleum.


Since this is mostly nerd talk anyways, I'll go ahead and say to any soil scientist that that's no B horizon. (Now I'll go twitch in the corner after realizing I said that) So we reported that we found an oil leak. We don't know the history of the area, maybe it was an old spill that they covered up years ago, who knows. But oil outside of the pipe where it's supposed to be seems to be becoming a trend these days...I'll keep everybody posted about the outcome.

The Big Spill

Something came about which gives me a good opportunity to explain a little bit about what I do. My title is "scientist", my business card says "biologist", and I like to say I'm a "wetland ecologist". I actually work for a consulting firm in the Twin Cities. We have a bunch of offices all over the midwest and western US, about 800 employees strong, and do mostly civil engineering. I work in the Natural Resources Group as a part of the Environmental Market Center. I mostly do wetland delineations. Think of a wetland as a swamp, bog, marsh, pond, whatever. I won't get into the technical definition, but what is important is that wetlands are regulated by the federal government (Executive Order #11990, Clean Water Act, amongst others) and by the state government in Minnesota. Most states have their own wetland protection laws now, differing slightly from the federal laws. So anyways, Joe Homeowner wants to build a shed on his property, but the place he wants to put it floods every spring (for at least 14 days). Well he can't build it in a wetland, but he needs to know where exactly this wetland is so he knows where he can build his shed. This is where I come in. I go out to the site to look at plants and dig holes to figure out exactly where the wetland boundary is. I put flags in the ground, then GPS a line around the wetland. Now Joe Homeowner knows where he can build his shed as to not get fined hugely. Anyways...short (kinda) explanation of what I do. So here's the story...
The Minnesota Pipeline Company wants to build a new pipeline from Canada to the Twin Cities oil refineries to meet increasing demand for oil. A big project, so they hire out another company to do the environmental work. This other company (to remain nameless) hires us to do a fourth of the wetland delineations for this pipeline. Our segment is 65 miles long through north/central Minnesota and parallels Minnesota Pipeline's existing pipeline. At the beginning of the project, we had to go to an 8 hour safety meeting explaining things like why not to dig holes on top of the pipe with millions of gallons of crude oil flowing through it. They are all about safety and how safety is their number one concern and there has only been one oil leak in like 60 years on their pipeline or whatever. They care about safety so much that we have to carry a "blunt tipped soil probe" (similar to this) to probe for pipes before we actually use a hand auger to dig 18 inches in the ground to see what the soils are like (this is part of the delineation process). We are mandated to carry this thing and can get in trouble if we don't have it. Ironic that the existing pipe is buried about 4 feet down, that our delineation requires us to dig to 18 inches max, and that our soil probe is only 24 inches long. Doesn't make sense to me. Hard hats too. I have a hard hat to protect me from things that may fall on my head while walking 65 miles through a cleared path 100 feet wide. Thank God I don't actually have to wear it, just strap it to my pack. Pain in the ass. Actually, we named our soil probe 'Paris' after a popular celebrity (also to remain nameless) because it's short, skinny, and useless. Anyways...we here's the juicy news. We didn't hear anything about it until my coworker's wife called and asked us about it. We had no idea. The pipeline ruptured!! About 20 miles southeast of where we were working. 67,000 gallons of oil were spilled from the pipe as it shot a geyser of crude oil 30 feet in the air. This photo is form the Brainerd Dispatch, a local paper which I conveniently picked up at my hotel where I'm staying this week.


See the article from the Minneapoils - St Paul paper, the Star Tribune, here...no word as to what caused it, but very interesting. Anyways, that's what I really wanted to write about. But I felt backstory was needed. So...there you have it. I'll try not to burst any pipes while I'm working...

Back in Action!!

OK, so I got a blog ages ago when my sister, Sarah, really started getting into hers but I really haven't posted anything at all. Three words, that's it. Anyways, now that the summer is in full swing and I am off in the middle of nowhere working (I'll get to that sometime in the future) I guess I get bored, so here I am.
So I suppose the other reason I am writing here is that I got a new car. It's probably very cliche for a guy to make a first post with typical guy in car pictures, but we've already been over the point that this is, in fact, my second post. So there. Anyways, I inherited my dad's red 1992 Saab 900 2 door hatchback in 2003 when I went away for my senior year of college.


At that point it had about 146,000 miles on it, and it was still going. My friends at a Boy Scout camp where I went for 5 years and then worked for 6 after that affectionately named it the yuppi Nazi mobile, or YNM for short. It was only after that that they found out that Saab is a Swedish company, not German, but the name stuck. It's now up to 167k or so, including making a 1200 mile trip half way across the country from NY to MN, where I currently live. I've been putting money into the YNM here and there for the past several years, and about this time last year I decided to put a limit on my repairs: Anything requiring over 400-500 dollars in repairs would be cause for a new car. So a year went by and then I took it in for a new battery and oil change, at which point I was informed that my axle boots were worn to nothing and once I started hearing noises when I turn I have about 10 hours of driving time before my car could potentially fall apart doing 70mph. Of course, this could be fixed for 385 dollars....for the drivers side. The passenger side would be another 350. Poor YNM. So I had to hunt for a car. I was hoping for more notice than 10 hours. After a few test drives and visits with typical care salesmen, I settled on a Honda CRV. Color? Black, of course. Sadly I cleaned out the YNM. It was a good car.