Oil Disasters Disasters
Ashland Oil Company Inc. (currently known as Ashland Inc.) owned a facility near the Monongahela River in Jefferson, PA (now Jefferson Hills). On January 2, 1988, a four-million gallon tank was used for the first time after being dismantled (from an Ohio location) and rebuilt in Pennsylvania. It was this tank, holding approximately 3.5 million gallons of diesel oil, that failed and collapsed, dumping nearly 1 million gallons of the oil into a storm sewer that led to the Monongahela River. At 4:58pm, a worker checked the tank levels and verified the tank was almost full. At 5:02, when the worker was walking away from the tank, he heard a loud boom and turned to find the roof of the tank collapsed. Ashland Co. later took full responsibility for the incident, accepting that they did violate industry standards when reconstructing the tank.
The Ashland oil spill was an oil spill that occurred on January 2, 1988 into the Monongahela River near the town of Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania, approximately 20 miles upstream from the city of Pittsburgh.
A team of researchers ultimately discovered that a dime-sized flaw on the 45-year-old tank contributed to the rupture. The flaw, which consisted of a small, rusting cavity about 0.125 in. deep was caused by a torch and was in the steel before reassembly. A combinations of factors aggravated the flaw and cause the tank to split. The tank was assembled in Cleveland in 1940 and rebuilt in 1985. The original welds and those used during the reassembly made the tank’s steel walls more brittle. Other contributing factors were the relative weakness of the World War II steel, pressure from the diesel fuel, and cold weather.
From the Monongahela River, the oil made its way down into the Ohio River, contaminating the drinking water for about 1 million people throughout Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. About 23,000 residents of Pittsburgh were without water for a week. About 1,200 residents of Jefferson Borough were asked to evacuate due to fear of an explosion in the area from a gasoline leak. Water shortages occurred for areas as far as 200 miles down river. This oil spill was one of the largest inland oil spills at the time of occurrence. The U.S. Government estimated the cost of damages were between $10 and $15 million.
Wildlife in the region were harmed by the oil as well. Fish and mussels were affected as well as 2,000-4,000 water fowl were killed in the incident. More details
