Presentation
Florida Municipal Power Agency/Keys Energy Discharge 2021-2023
DescriptionBeginning in February of 2021, United States Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Key West Incident Management Division (IMD) noted a significant increase in mystery sheen reports within the vicinity of Stock Island near Key West, FL. Exhaustive investigation conducted by Sector Key West IMD and the USCG Marine Safety Laboratory determined the source of pollution to be a 500,000-gallon diesel storage tank with a perforated tank floor and compromised concrete foundation located on the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA)/Keys Energy Facility. Utilizing groundwater flow patterns, calculations suggest that the subsurface discharge circumvented all secondary containment measures for roughly 4.6 years before entering Safe Harbor's waters via a point of convergence in seawall and riprap.
Being that the FMPA/Keys Energy Facility is critical infrastructure in providing power to Key West and the lower Keys, it was critical that the discharging tank be emptied to secure the source while simultaneously ensuring the ability for critical power generation. The quickly assembled multi-agency unified command agreed upon the utilization of three separate recovery methods: two passive recovery trenches, 68 investigative soil borings and 36 watertable monitoring wells to determine the extent of the underground plume, and the utilization of a hydrogen peroxide injection system at the soil-watertable interface, the first known to be used within Florida’s Coastal Zone and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in US history.
To date, approximately 66,153 gallons of diesel fuel have been recovered from the watertable at FMPA/Keys Energy Facility at Stock Island to span a response of 567 days. All substantial threats have been mitigated.
Being that the FMPA/Keys Energy Facility is critical infrastructure in providing power to Key West and the lower Keys, it was critical that the discharging tank be emptied to secure the source while simultaneously ensuring the ability for critical power generation. The quickly assembled multi-agency unified command agreed upon the utilization of three separate recovery methods: two passive recovery trenches, 68 investigative soil borings and 36 watertable monitoring wells to determine the extent of the underground plume, and the utilization of a hydrogen peroxide injection system at the soil-watertable interface, the first known to be used within Florida’s Coastal Zone and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in US history.
To date, approximately 66,153 gallons of diesel fuel have been recovered from the watertable at FMPA/Keys Energy Facility at Stock Island to span a response of 567 days. All substantial threats have been mitigated.
Author
Event Type
Paper
TimeThursday, May 16th8:00am - 8:20am CDT
Location288-290
Remediation