Ashland Oil
RELEANT FACTS
On January 2, 1988, a 4-million gallon oil storage tank, owned by Ashland Oil Company, Inc., collapsed while being filled at an oil storage facility located in Floreffe, Pennsylvania, near the Monongahela River. The tank split while being filled to capacity for the first time after it had been dismantled and moved from an Ohio location and reassembled at the Floreffe facility. The split released diesel oil over the tanks containment dikes, across a parking lot on an adjacent property and into an uncapped storm drain that emptied directly into the river.
Authorities estimated that the oil slick was moving downriver at 10 to 20 miles per hour. Emergency crews placed containment booms around the perimeter of the spill and used vacuum trucks, pumper trucks and skimming barges to skim the oil off the water as the oil slick moved downriver. However, the fuel oil emulsified with the water making containment and clean up difficult.
As the press questioned the situation it became clear that a permit for construction of the tank was not on file. It was also found that the tank had been rebuilt from 40-year old steel and had not been properly tested
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