Harristown Terminal

The Harristown Terminal site receives gasoline and other fuels through a pipeline from a refinery in Wood River, Illinois. It stores the product in tanks and pumps it into tanker trucks to be delivered to retail gas stations. The site is located at 600 E. Lincoln Memorial Parkway immediately south of the Norfolk Southern Railroad, just north of Old Route 36 in Harristown, west of Decatur. It is owned by Buckeye Partners, a Pennsylvania-based company.

Workers at the facility reportedly became aware of a leak at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, June 12, 2006 after noticing a problem from a gauge on one of the storage tanks. The spilled product was within an earthen reservoir around tanks on the property. Emergency crews have worked around the clock since the incident to clean up the spill. An additional area of contamination was detected late Monday about one mile northwest of the site where a field tile was releasing gasoline to a drainage ditch near a small pond. Surface water in the area flows west-northwest. Another crew was dispatched to work on cleaning up that area, and oil booms were placed across a creek at various points to stop the spill from traveling further west until it could be cleaned up.

Illinois EPA has collected samples of both the Niantic and Harristown public water supplies. In addition, water and soil samples have been collected by Illinois EPA, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and contractors for the site owner.

• Fact Sheet 1 - June 2006
• Fact Sheet 2 - November 2006