Salt Lake mayor calls for indefinite shutdown of Chevron pipeline

SALT LAKE CITY — An outraged Mayor Ralph Becker said the Chevron pipeline should be shut down "indefinitely" in light of a second breach in less than six months near Red Butte Gardens.

"At this point we can't trust Chevron," he said Thursday. The company, he said, "has broken the trust we have in the work that has been done to give us a safe pipeline. I can't help but be skeptical."

Becker's comments came on the heels of another leak along the Salt Lake-area segment of the 50-year-old pipeline discovered Wednesday night.

A faulty valve in a containment vault about 500 feet upstream from the other spill site allowed as much as 200 barrels of oil to escape, but city officials said none of the oil reached nearby Red Butte Creek.

"I am quite concerned we have had the two leaks," said Mark Sullivan, manager of Chevron's Salt Lake City refinery.

"My primary concern is the effect on the trust in the community and our ability to operate facilities without incident … I am very concerned about having two leaks in close proximity to one another."

Salt Lake Fire Capt. Michael Harp said firefighters and hazardous materials teams quickly deployed oil-absorbing booms and built earthen dams after a Chevron employee reported the leak at 11:23 p.m. Wednesday.

After 90 minutes, the leak was contained. No evacuations were required, and University of Utah officials said they had notified students in nearby campus housing of the breach.

City officials said late Thursday that based on initial air quality monitoring at the spill site by Industrial Hygiene Inc, low vapor levels of pollutants have been detected. Chevron spokesman Dan Johnson said those emissions have been confined to the "hot" spot where the majority of oil seeped.

Individuals experiencing discomfort or symptoms should seek medical help or call the Salt Lake Valley Health Department with questions or concerns at 801-534-4600.

Water sampling is also being done in various locations near and above the creek.

"We're ramping up our monitoring, increasing the frequency of it to make sure no contaminants entered the creek," said Donna Kemp Spangler, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Quality. "We've also informed Salt Lake City that we will provide any assistance necessary."