Duke Energy the source of Wabash River oil spill

[PVnRT]

West Terre Haute residents residing at Oakley Camp on Fairview Lane reported the contamination to the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department around 10 a.m. Sunday. Cleanup crews began work Monday. The slick extended for miles on the river.

Winchell said because of Tuesday’s weather, the cleanup effort probably isn’t going well and the oil is so light that the booms haven’t been able to capture much of it with their absorbent pads.

Also, ice chunks on the river continue to knock the booms over, he said.

Angeline Protogere, Duke Energy spokeswoman, said Tuesday evening the sheen is mostly gone, but they have left the booms in place especially in places where the water is moving slowly.

http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_044211906.html

They should this stuff on the news Monday evening. It looks like a fine sheet of snot - a conservation officer sampling it dipped a stick into one of the slicks, and the oil came out as if it were slime instead of just regular oil sitting on water.

Initial indications are that a pinhole-sized leak in a pipe caused the contamination, along with the failure of a feature in the system designed to contain leaks

As someone who designs this kind of stuff, one, high-pressure hydraulic piping doesn't just spontaneously spring pinhole leaks, since the pipes are designed to withstand thousands of pounds of pressure. Two, leak containment systems don't just "fail" - most of the time you have a diked area to capture any leaks that should be completely isolated from the storm sewer system. It sounds to me more like PSI did a shit job designing and building this system in the first place.

[hippiechick]

1. UGH!

Ok, dumb question, why would Duke Energy have 'oil' stuff ?

[PVnRT]

2. To lubricate the turbines

Since a turbine has a rotating magnet in it (to generate electricity) it requires lubrication, which is where the oil apparently comes from. I'm sure they also have small pumps all over the place as well.