North Carolina and Colonial Pipeline Reach an Agreement on Gasoline Spill
Colonial Pipeline has agreed to a consent order which says it should be held accountable for a gasoline spill in a North Carolina nature preserve that was found to be far worse than what the company initially said, a state agency said Thursday.
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality filed the order with Mecklenburg County Superior Court, according to a news release. Colonial Pipeline would be required under the order to apply specific remedies and pay nearly $5 million related to the August 2020 spill in the Oehler Nature Preserve near Huntersville, about 14 miles (22 km) north of Charlotte.
Last November, NCDEQ filed a 29-page lawsuit in which it called on Colonial to take a number of steps, including removal, treatment or control any source of petroleum, polyfluoroalkyl, also known as PFAS, or other contaminants that have the potential to contaminate groundwater.
