Strategic petroleum reserve site environmental report for calendar year 1995

The purpose of this Site Environmental Report (SER) is to characterize site environmental management performance, confirm compliance with environmental standards and requirements, and highlight significant programs and efforts. Included in this report is a description of each site`s environment, an overview of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) environmental program, and a recapitulation of special environmental activities and events associated with each SPR site during 1995. Two of these highlights include decommissioning of 3 the weeks Island facility, involving the disposition of 11.6 million m{sup 3} (73 million barrels) of crude oil inventory, as well as the degasification of over 4.5 million m{sup 3} (30 million barrels) of crude oil inventory at the Bryan Mound and West Hackberry facilities. The decision to decommission the weeks Island facility is a result of diminishing mine integrity from ground water intrusion. Transfer of Weeks Island oil began in November, 1995 with 2.0 million m{sup 3} (12.5 million barrels) transferred by December 31, 1995. Degasifying the crude oil is a major pollution prevention initiative because it will reduce potentially harmful emissions that would occur during oil movements by three or more orders of magnitude. Spills to the environment, another major topic, indicates a positive trend. There were only two reportable oil and three reportable brine spills during 1995, down from a total of 10 reportable spills in 1994. Total volume of oil spilled in 1995 was 56.3 m{sup 3} (354 barrels), and the total volume of brine spilled was 131.1 m{sup 3} (825 barrels). The longer term trend for oil and brine spills has declined substantially from 27 in 1990 down to five in 1995. All of the spills were reported to appropriate agencies and immediately cleaned up, with no long term impacts observed