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Calcasieu Refining (3585), Lake Charles
Releases of Crude Oil
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| 79334 2005-05-25 | #1 Calcasieu Refining dock | Cause: Crude oil was released when a loading arm for a barge was not properly drained. Followup: Notes: The majority of the oil was collected by a environmental clean up group; there was no remaining obvious impact of oil found. All crude oil found from the water surface was returned to the crude oil tank | 84.0 gallons |
| 99136 2007-09-04 | Tank # 312 | Cause: Faulty tank level instrument caused tank 312 to overflow while being filled. Followup: Notes: A radar gauge oil level monitoring system has been added to Tank 312. 16,800 gallons of oil were vacuumed up and 80 yards of contaminated soil were removed off of Tank Farm area. Bio remediation applied. Drainage from tank farm rerouted to wastewater treatment plant. | 2,100.0 gallons |
| No LDEQ Reported 2007-03-31 | Rainwater Sump | Cause: Due to excessive rainfall, the junction box over filled into the storm water drain. Sheen spotted flowing out of outfall 002. Followup: Notes: Oil cleaned up under US Coast Guard observation. Absorbent booms placed near the junction box and near Outfall 002 and 001. | 1.0 gallons |
| 118093 2009-09-21 | Gonsoulin 304 Barge | Cause: Tankerman incorrectly lined up the valves on the barge prior to starting the crude oil transfer pumps. Pumped from the outside barge to the inside barge instead of the crude oil tanks, causing the Gonsoulin 304 barge to overflow into the water causing an oil spill. Followup: No Notes: Two oil spill response boats and containment boom deployed to clean up spill. Sorbent booms and pads recovered crude oil. | 168.0 gallons |
| 127108 2010-10-15 | tank 300 | Cause: Crude oil released "due to an apparent fault in the tank floor." Followup: No Notes: Transferred oil from leaking tank to another tank, some crude oil recovered via vacuum truck, impacted soil excavated and is "staged at the refinery awaiting waste characterization sample results" and will be hauled off site for disposal. "No off-site impact resulting from this incident." | 4,200.0 gallons |
| 120593 2010-01-06 | wastewater treatment unit | Cause: upset in waste water treatment system resulted in discharge of mixture of crude oil and refined products into the Calcasieu River--bio die off caused biomass to be released from the unit, collected in weir system in outfall Followup: No Notes: No refinery letter; NRC report attached. | 1.0 gallons |
| 149327 2013-06-20 | transfer hose | Cause: At approximately 3:25 PM on June 20, 2013, a barge unloading hose ruptured during off loading of crude oil from a barge at Calcasieu Refining Company C-Dock. This occurred when a strong wake from a deep draft ship pulled the barge away from the dock far enough to stretch and rupture the hose. Original estimate of release was 10 barrels, but actual release was 5 barrels. Followup: No Notes: The substance released did escape beyond the incident location affecting the waters of the Calcasieu River. Immediate action by CRC personnel was to hit emergency shut off devices which minimized the amount of oil discharged and deployed two spill boats and 2500-3000 feet of containment boom. Oil recovery was accomplished using sorbent pads and sorbent boom material. Approximately 22 cubic yards of soiled absorbents were recovered and will be properly disposed of. An emergency response plan was in place and initiated by Enterprise Marine Services LLC. The spill response was a shared responsibility between Enterprise Marine Services LLC and the Calcasieu Refining Company. The owner/operator of the M/V Princimar Hope (ship responsible for causing the wake) has been put on notice. An OSRO crew from ES&H Consulting Services, Inc was contracted to conduct remedial activities. No information is given about whether release was below reportable quantity, but final estimated amount released (5 barrels) is greater than reported quantity for crude oil (1 barrel). | 210.0 gallons |
| 158628 2014-09-09 | Soft Water Tank TK-105 | Cause: On 9/9/14, a refinery operator discovered crude oil overflowing from TK-105, a soft water tank. The oil was accumulated on the ground in the area of TK-105 and south of the tank under the nearby pipe rack. The oil, some of it floating on standing water, was covering an area of approximately 1720 square feet.
The release occurred when the soft water pump at TK-105 failed and crude oil back up the soft water injection line and into the soft water tank. A check valve in this line failed open allowing the oil to reach the tank. Followup: No Notes: The failed check valve has been replaced with a more reliable type of check valve. Calcasieu Refining also installed an alarm to alert operators when the soft water pump fails. Contaminated soil was removed from the area and Micro-Blaze (microbial agents that degrades hydrocarbons) was applied to the area. Clean soil was moved in to replace removed soil. | 210.0 gallons |
| 156643 2014-06-10 | Oil Water System | Cause: After a heavy rainfall the sewer backed up causing the oil water system to overflow. Crude oil overflowed out of the process units and was released out of the outfall and into the river resulting in a rainbow sheen. Approximately 5 gallons of crude oil was released into containment and 0.5 gallons were released into the Calcasieu River before the valve for the outfall was turned off. A vacuum truck picked up the oil in the containment area. Followup: No Notes: The report states that it is unknown if the water supply is contaminated and it does not mention how the river water was cleaned. Nor is there a duration given. | 5.0 gallons |
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