Emergency Oil Spill Response
On April 13, 2023, the State of Michigan’s Environmental, Great Lakes and Energy Division contacted Taplin Group regarding a oil sheen discovered in a man-made lake that was adjacent to the Grand River in Jenison, Michigan.
In the days leading up to the 13th, the area sustained heavy rains, which caused the Grand River to overflow its banks into the manmade lake, raising to an abnormally high level which then flooded inland.
This increased lake level, impacted (3) plugged oil wells that were in shallow areas near the natural shoreline until the lake levels rose. High levels allowed water to enter the well station pipes. This normally would not be an issue, but the well owners did not plug the wells properly. As a result, the inflow of water caused the wells to “burp” oil and discharge into the lake. It was estimated to be approximately 2000-5000 gallons of oil entered the lake. This combined with the rapidly rising waters, allowed the oil sheen to traverse a large area of upland, impacting nearby woods and a lower marsh area.
Within a day of the lake level cresting, it receded leaving behind a large, impacted area.
The Taplin Group was contracted by the State of Michigan to first contain the area around the wells to prevent any future spill outs. Following the well containment, Taplin disbursed approximately 1,600 LF of oil boom to contain the oil coming off the shoreline as the waters receded to prevent further spread into the lake.
Once all the containment efforts were complete, the skimming of the water to remove the oil sheen started. Simultaneously to the skimming efforts, Taplin began excavating impacted soils at the shoreline per EGLE’s direction. As the efforts continued, the State and Local Officials discovered that the oil sheen went further inland than originally thought.
This new discovery required Taplin to respond with additional personnel, excavating equipment and absorbents to clean up trees and excavate impacted soils further inland, including the marsh area.
The initial response, containment and remedial clean up was completed by 4/29. Resulting in 8,000 gallons of liquid disposal, 120 tons of impacted soil disposal, and 3,000 linear feet of absorbent boom deployed.
100% of this was completed by Taplin Personnel and Taplin owned equipment.