HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — The Colonial Pipeline Company is donating 30 acres of land to Mecklenburg County after one of the largest fuel spills in the country.
Colonial Pipeline is now making an effort to make up for the spill by donating 30 the land. Mecklenburg County commissioners will sign off on the deal on Wednesday.
The spill was found by two teenagers in 2020 in the Oehler Nature Preserve near Huntersville. The teens discovered the estimated 2 million gallons of fuel on Aug. 14, 2020, while riding ATVs through the preserve and smelled an overwhelming odor of gasoline.
The initial spill estimate was 63,000 gallons of fuel. The spill was a result of failed equipment, according to the Colonial Pipeline Company.
The pipeline’s leak detection system never caught the spill, according to the company’s settlement with the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. This same system has missed pills in Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
The company pleaded guilty to criminal negligence in 1999 after millions of gallons were spilled in South Carolina’s Reedy River. It was fined $41 million dollars and paid $13 million in settlements.
The land will go to expand the west branch of the nature preserve.
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