SCENARIO
On Tuesday afternoon, April 23rd, a crew with Rocky Mountain Power begins scheduled maintenance work on the electrical transmission lines bordering the Farmington Bay wetland complex.
The work site is located just north of Salt Lake City International Center (500-acre business park), on the west side of Salt Lake City International Airport.
GPS: 40.801633, -112.012783
At 2:00 pm, while a pair Rocky Mountain Power employees were working above the high-tension power lines, their bucket/crane truck topples over, resting on its side in the adjacent marsh scrub, which is highly saturated after recent rainfall in the Salt Lake City area.
First responders from the Salt Lake City Fire Department and Salt Lake City Police Department are immediately dispatched and arrive on-scene within minutes of notification.
Both workers suffer serious injuries, after falling from approximately 100 feet, and are airlifted to University of Utah Medical Center for treatment.
As OSHA investigators assemble to inspect the workplace accident, they are overwhelmed by a strong, petroleum-type odor.
After initially thinking the smell was leaking fuel from the toppled bucket/crane truck, emergency officials discover a significant plume of “red-tinted” oil in the neighboring Surplus Canal.
Firefighters then realize a significant amount of fuel is bubbling up from the ground, adjacent to the overturned bucket/crane truck.
Puzzled by their observation, one of the Rocky Mountain Power linemen speculates oil may be leaking from Holly Energy Partners’ petroleum pipeline, which shares the right-of-way with the electrical transmission lines.
First responders with the Salt Lake City Fire Department quickly toss available absorbent pads into the canal, in the futile hope of containing the spill and minimizing environmental damages.
At 3:20 pm, Captain Adam Davies with the Salt Lake City Fire Department notifies Holly Energy Partners (HEP), by means of the emergency telephone number (877-748-4464) demarcated on the yellow pipeline markers.
