NJ Transit Officials in Town to Talk About Fuel Spill

New Jersey Transit officials on Monday assured an audience of township Council members and residents that every effort was being made to preserve wildlife and safeguard drinking water following a Jan. 11-12 fuel spill that fouled waterways along the border of Camden and Gloucester counties.

The transit system's officials also acknowledged a flaw with the leak-detection system attached to the responsible underground fuel tanks at its Washington Township bus garage—that flaw being that no one was in a position to notice it.

"All the rules say is you have to have an alarm system, but they don't go into the specifics of where it needs to be located," Marty Judd, head of NJ Transit's environmental services unit, said. "That was a management issue that, unfortunately, we fell short on and is being corrected."

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is awaiting test results on water taken last Friday from three private wells on Marshall Avenue, which is located along Blackwood Lake, according to hydrogeologist Tim Maguire.

New Jersey American Water and Aqua New Jersey have assured township officials that public drinking water has not been impacted by the spill.

A total of nine animals—three muskrats, two Canada geese, two beavers and two turtles—have died as a result of the fuel spill, according to Andrea Howey-Newcomb, coordinator at Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research Inc., the Newark, DE-based firm contracted by NJ Transit to aid wildlife in spills.

Tri-State was still caring for 22 animals found to have been contaminated by fuel as of Monday night's Council meeting, Howey-Newcomb said.

Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer invited NJ Transit and DEP officials to Monday's meeting to brief Council and address residents' concerns.

The affected waterways—Grenloch and Blackwood lakes, which are linked by Big Timber Creek, a tributary of the Delaware River—form natural borders between Gloucester and Washington townships.

An estimated 26,000 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from two underground storage tanks at NJ Transit's Washington Township bus garage overnight Jan. 11-12, ultimately contaminating the lakes and creek.

Officials have blamed a failed gasket for allowing fuel to leak from two 20,000-gallon storage tanks at the facility, which is located at 6000 Route 42, in the Sewell section of Washington Township. The tanks had passed a private inspection on Dec. 22, and were slated to be replaced next year.

The 25-year-old leak-detection system within the garage indicated the spill occurred at 8:32 p.m. on Jan. 11, according to Joyce Gallagher, NJ Transit's acting vice president and general manager of bus operations.

"Unfortunately, as we now know, the alarm was placed so that it was not readily observable nor could you readily hear it, and it was not the sort of alarm that went on and stayed on until someone actively shut it off," she said. "So it came on and went off, and it was not observed."

Gallagher said about 9,000 gallons of the leaked diesel fuel was "reclaimed from the Washington Township site itself, so (17,000 gallons) is what we think actually got into the waters."

The spill was not discovered until more than 12 hours had passed after the alarm was triggered.

According to accounts from local officials and NJ Transit, it appears firefighters summoned to investigate an unusual odor beginning around 7:40 a.m. Jan. 12 discovered the source of the spill around the same time a supervisor at the Washington Township bus garage noticed the fuel seeping through grass at the site, a little before 9 a.m.

A NJ Transit representative will be on hand at the garage Monday through Friday through Feb. 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., to address residents' concerns over the spill. A representative will also be there this Saturday during those same hours.

Also, NJ Transit launched a toll-free hotline last week to specifically handle calls from area residents with questions, issues and concerns regarding the spill. The number is 800-626-7433.

Crews from Clean Venture Inc., of Elizabeth and Clayton, will not conclude the clean-up's initial "emergency phase," as several officials called it, until the DEP gives NJ Transit the OK.

"We're going strictly on what the DEP tells us we're going to have to do," Paul Wyckoff, NJ Transit's chief of government and external affairs, said following the 45-minute briefing.

Mayer, Township Council members and NJ Transit officials noted the impact of the spill could have been far worse were it not for the efforts of firefighters from Washington and Gloucester townships.

"If it wasn't for our fire departments, in particular, that placed the necessary devices to help stop the spread of the oil, this could have been a more significant event. That said, this is a significant event," he said. "We wanted an opportunity to allow you to hear the status of where we are in the clean-up of both Grenloch and Blackwood lakes."

Echoing the sentiment expressed by NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein in a statement issued last week, Gallagher noted on several occasions during the meeting that NJ Transit is committed to righting the wrong.

"We are not going away. We understand the magnitude of the spill. We understand our responsibilities," she said.

NJ Transit officials met with the Washington Township Environmental Commission last Thursday night and will meet with Washington Township Council on Wednesday.

Councilman Frank Schmidt noted the spill, while damaging, could have had a much worse outcome on wildlife had it occurred in the spring, summer or fall.

"As a fisherman, I'm glad (trout in Grenloch Lake) are in a state of torpor," Schmidt, a science teacher at Glen Landing Middle School, said. "They're down low in the water for the winter, hibernating. ... But that's just the bass. There are other animals, of course, living on the water there."

Read Gloucester Township Patch's full coverage of the diesel fuel spill:

• Fuel Spill Contained; Several Animals Found Dead
• NJ Transit Boss on Fuel Spill: 'Our Work Has Only Begun'