A decade after spill, Colonial Pipeline still making amends

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Posted 9:24AM on Monday, September 27, 2004

DANIELSVILLE - Richard Bennett bought 21 acres along Colbert Grove Church Road in 1990, hoping to someday retire there next to his parents' land. But Bennett's plans soon changed after he learned the groundwater on his Madison County parcel was contaminated from fuel spills by the Colonial Pipeline Co.'s nearby booster station. Colonial, which delivers about 96 million gallons of petroleum products around the country each day through its 5,500-mile network of pipes, discovered groundwater contamination at the station in 1994, after workers there smelled something funny in the company's own well, according to documents filed with the state Environmental Protection Division. The contamination of benzene and other toxic substances likely resulted from a series of spills from 1966 to 1979, the records said. Bennett is among dozens of local residents who have been left to deal with the fallout in the decade since. ``Who wants to live on a toxic waste site?'' said Bennett, who has become the area's most vocal critic of Colonial. Since 1995, the Atlanta-based company has bought out about three dozen landowners in the area, but some say they haven't been able to sell because Colonial won't offer them a fair price. Meanwhile, a number of those who stayed have dealt with health problems, including cancers and muscular dystrophy, that have left some to wonder if there's a link between the illnesses and the contamination. State officials have said it's unlikely area residents have been exposed to high levels of benzene and other toxins since the contamination was discovered in 1994. But since the spills in the area date back nearly 40 years, it's impossible to say what residents may have been exposed to before 1994, said Roger Carter, assistant chief of the EPD's Geologic Survey Branch. Mike McDaris lost both his father and his son to leukemia in recent years. Colonial has tested the water in his well but said it has no petroleum contamination, McDaris said. Colonial spokeswoman Grace McDougald said she has informally surveyed area residents, and no one has told her they believe they have health problems related to the contamination. Company officials insist they've worked hard to clean up their own mess. Colonial has paid $950,000 toward a 12-mile, $1.7 million water main so that local residents won't have to rely on their wells. But not all locals think that's enough. County commissioner Bruce Scogin agreed the waterline would be good for the area but added that county officials should have asked for much more from Colonial both in money and help for residents affected by the spill. ``I see Colonial coming out of this actually making a pile of money'' in tax write-offs and, possibly, land sales, Scogin said. McDougald insisted Colonial has worked hard to help residents affected by the spill. The company paid a federal fine of $34 million in 2003, and that same year agreed to spend an extra $30 million for more inspections and maintenance along its pipelines. ``I don't know how we could have been any more aggressive,'' she said. ``We have responded to every inquiry we have had, we have sent somebody out to meet with anybody who has asked, and will continue to do so.'' For those who stayed, the company has installed well filters, even when there was no detected contamination, and has supplied bottled water and even dug new wells when requested, she added. But for some, Colonial's efforts still are not enough. Cathy Ragsdale, who sold her property to the company in 2002 after benzene showed up in her groundwater, said the homestead she and her family had built up and cared for over a dozen years is something that can't be replaced. ``There's no way I'd ever live there again. I don't even go down that road,'' Ragsdale said. ``I planted flowers. I planted trees. That was my home, and it was taken from me.''