State Route 8 News Bulletin

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State Route 8 News Bulletin

Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 06/09/2007 - 5:39am.

The fire sirens in McCleary went off in the 5 o'clock hour this morning. To the east, a giant column of churning black smoke can be seen. Attempts to head to Olympia on State Route 8 are met with emergency response personnel turning us back and advising us to use 108 to Kamilche. Looks like whatever it is is in the vicinity of the Thurston/Grays Harbor County line. If you are headed to the coast today, it should be an interesting drive.

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Thanks!

Submitted by Rick on Sat, 06/09/2007 - 8:03am.

I just made it to Grays Harbor College (via Kamilche). I would have been stuck had you not posted this.

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion. -C.P. Snow

Really, thanks. I was on

Submitted by Ehver Green on Sat, 06/09/2007 - 8:22am.

Really, thanks. I was on my way out to Elma and now will head North on 101 then West on 108. My uncle, who lives on Steamboat, wasn't as lucky - been on 8 for nearly 2 hours.

Just opened East bound lanes

Submitted by Ehver Green on Sat, 06/09/2007 - 8:22am.

Just opened East bound lanes on 8 - heading West still a mess.

State Patrol is asking

Submitted by Ehver Green on Sat, 06/09/2007 - 8:49am.

State Patrol is asking everyone Westbound to turnaround as I type this. No access to the West on 8 until at least noon.

Thanks Ehver Green. I was

Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 06/09/2007 - 9:17am.

Thanks Ehver Green. I was going to drive out there and check it out to report on it, but now I'll think better of it. The column of smoke is gone. From the standpoint of possible forest fires, we are lucky it is raining today.

Nice to know this OlyBlog

Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 06/09/2007 - 8:32am.

Nice to know this OlyBlog scoop beat out the mainstream media and DOT online and helped you guys. Word around town is that a tanker rolled. KOMO has a bit on it.

Online coverage

Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 06/09/2007 - 12:55pm.

For mainstream online coverage, KOMO-TV wins hands down. Not only were they the first to report it, but they ran a photo as well, helping me place exactly where the crash happened. Oddly, no word from the Olympian, even though this is closer to their beat. DOT finally posted an alert: "SR 8 - Reduced to one lane on SR 8 in both directions from MOX CHEHALIS RD to COOPER RD since 12:10 PM, 06/09/07 for the next six hours due to earlier accident From milepost 7 to milepost 11"

Just a final note to

Submitted by Ehver Green on Sun, 06/10/2007 - 9:43pm.

Just a final note to say...

The first report of this incident on The Olympian was @ 6:57 pm - nearly 12 hours after the accident.

And I'm Still Waiting On Another Fire Story

Submitted by stevenl on Sun, 06/10/2007 - 10:13pm.

Unless I've missed something or can't use the Olympian search box very well (entirely possible, so if I'm wrong, I'll plead senior citizenship-- which I'm not by the way, but I can see it from here), they entirely missed this story . I wonder why? The amazing thing is that it took place only a few blocks from their main office. And the OPD is apparently treating it as a possible arson case. Considering the target, this is news. Big news. Why has the Olympian dropped the ball here? Is it incompetence, or is it politics, or is it economic (not offending advertisers)? Makes me wonder how many other stories we have missed over the years. These two recent fire episodes have really made me appreciate OlyBlog's subtitle: "We Are The Media."

Good call

Submitted by Norm on Thu, 06/14/2007 - 10:50am.

I'm curious about this as well.

Submitted by Rick on Mon, 06/11/2007 - 7:00am.

From The Olympian:

Expect delays near McCleary for cleanup
Cleanup after a Saturday tanker fire will continue on state Route 8, and the left westbound lane will remain closed, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Motorists should expect delays near McCleary as contractors clean up fuel from soil and a culvert that runs beneath the roadway. The lane is expected to be open by Wednesday.

EPA on Pettit Oil tanker truck rollover

Submitted by Sarah on Thu, 06/14/2007 - 10:35am.

EPA report - includes photos

WOW

Submitted by Norm on Sun, 06/17/2007 - 8:34pm.

Good job on the coverage folks. I just drove by today and I wish I would have had a camera. I also drove by Friday evening, it's pretty crazy looking.

I wonder how long it will

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 06/18/2007 - 8:18am.

I wonder how long it will take the spilled fuels to reach the ground water table. According to the City of Olympia, one gallon of gasoline is enough to contaminate one million gallons of ground water. It didn't say about diesel (which probably biodegrades more easily.) So...doing the math, 1 gal : 1,000,000 gal contamination is like 7,000 gal : 7 billion (7,000,000,000) gallons contamination. Now, surely not all 7,000 gallons will reach the groundwater. But it is not outrageous to suppose that 500 gallons or 1,000 gallons (or more) might reach the groundwater. 500,000,000 or 1 billion gallons of contaminated drinking water...It will be interesting to follow this. Who will pay?

I Don't Buy the Figures

Submitted by Ehver Green on Thu, 06/21/2007 - 7:31am.

So I e-mailed the city asking for a source (1 gallon of gasoline contaminating 1,000,000 gallons of water). This is the response from Liz Hoenig. Anybody have solid numbers with a reliable source?

%<------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Zach:

I am responding to your recent email about information in our Groundwater Protection web pages. To be honest, that bit of information has been copied and pasted multiple times over the years – and we do not know the original source.

You do make a good point, and we are usually careful not to include anything in our pages that does come from a reliable source. At this time, our city web pages do not have a design standard in place that I know of for including sources in our web page content. I think that is a great idea, and I will pass it along to our web design folks.

We’ve decided to remove the information you pointed out, and will include something that is more relevant to our local area. Thanks again for your comments. Please contact me if you have any further questions.

- Liz

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->%

Fascinating

Submitted by Sarah on Thu, 06/21/2007 - 9:49am.

Thanks for passing this on EG. Very cool. Good reminder that info isn't necessarily true just because it is repeated and on a gov't web site.

Pettit Oil fined by state for spill

Submitted by Sarah on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 7:49am.

Pettit Oil has been fined $7,000 for an fuel truck crash that caused around 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline to spill and ignite along Highway 8 near the Thurston and Grays Harbor county line in June of last year.
As a result, Department of Ecology officials say, part of the highway median caught fire, and burning fuel passed through a culvert, igniting the peat bog and wetland to the east. Some of that fuel also escaped the wetland into Mox-Chehalis Creek, although officials later said there has been no long-term impact on it.
“Even with the amount that was consumed by the fire, this spill released a substantial amount of fuel to the ground, a sensitive wetland and local creek,” said Jim Sachet, regional spill response manager for Ecology.

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