Providence Mission Hospital administrators believe contaminated diesel may have contributed to the September mishap that spilled fuel from an emergency power system onto Totuava Beach.
A 2,800-gallon fuel delivery in June was contaminated, which prevented an electronic valve from controlling the flow from a fuel storage tank into the generator’s primary tank, Lanette Faulkner, director of facilities for Mission Hospital, told the Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday.
This latest incident is the second diesel spill involving the hospital’s emergency generator in just over a year.
“We are devastated that a second leak occurred and impacted our coastal community,” Faulkner said. “While our data confirms that a limited amount of diesel was released, we also owe an apology to the community.”
State water regulators determined Mission Hospital has sufficiently mitigated the impacts of the 290-gallon diesel spill, according to public documents. Hospital administrators and their clean-up contractor met with officials from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Board, California Coastal Commission, and state Dept. of Fish & Wildlife on Oct. 22 to provide an update on the spill response.
“In reviewing the draft remedial action workplan and the post sampling event I believe that our concerns have been met,” Brian McDaniel, an engineering geologist with the California Environmental Protection Agency, wrote in meeting minutes.
Water samples collected from Totuava Beach as recently as Oct. 19 showed pollutant levels below what was measured in previous screenings. Faulkner told water officials she believed no more than 50 gallons of diesel was released from a storm drain outlet onto the sand.
The problematic generator is out of service and the hospital has a temporary generator on-site in case of a grid outage.
The Sept. 29 spill occurred during a monthly test of the generator. A hospital employee was inside of the generator’s housing when the fuel tank started overflowing and immediately shutdown the system, Faulkner said.
Mayor Pro Tem Sue Kempf asked Faulkner how the emergency power system alerts staffers of a fuel leak. A visual alarm in the hospital’s power plant signals, she said.
Councilmember George Weiss pointed out the diesel has a tendency to turn gelatinous after a certain period of time. Faulkner said the stored diesel had just gone through an annual process called “polishing” before the recent spill. It’s now being done on a monthly basis.
Residents from Circle Drive to Laguna Lido have watched clean-up crews on the sand for weeks.
Ancon Services has scooped up 60 cubic yards of diesel-contaminated sand plus removed vegetation loaded into 15 cubic yard sacks, which remained on the beach on Wednesday, McDaniel said. Due to the lack of vehicle access from the streets above, the material will be moved by landing craft but the vessels have been unavailable in recent weeks, according to public documents.
Hospital administrators expected sand removal to start on Thursday.
Officials discussed using a helicopter to remove the bags of contaminated sand but Laguna Beach wouldn’t allow the operation due to concerns relating to noise. Additionally, the cost of using a helicopter is excessive, said Don Couch, chief compliance officer at Ancon Services.
Ancon will also deliver 60 cubic yards of clean sand by landing craft to replace the contaminated sand removed from Totuava Beach.
On May 7, 2020, a diesel spill ultimately totaling 2,100 gallons forced the closure of Totuava and Thousand Steps beaches.
To prevent another spill, hospital staffers have ordered a redesign that includes a safety berm around the generator housing site. They’re currently awaiting permits from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
Annual inspections of Orange County healthcare facilities are usually handled by the California Department of Public Health and Orange County Healthcare Agency.
15+ months after the first one and it’s obvious that nothing was learned.
Not by them or by our city officials tasked with local jurisdictional oversight.
Providence alleges “We are continually elevating the standards of clinical care for our patients.”
All of those graduate degrees and PR flacks, and they CAN look out their innumerable ocean view windows, or their cars on the way to work, can’t they? See the proximity, understand a storm drain system drains to the beach after last year?
They were pilloried by media and residents alike.
Nothing changed in spite of every layer of regulatory personnel crawling all over them back then.
It’s not a holograph, it’s the flipping Pacific Ocean and some of the highest value, fragile marine habitat in our entire region. Howsabout caring for our ecologies instead of solely focused upon billing humans?
So why wasn’t the secondary containment put in place ASAP after the last one?
These things are supposed to be on site inspected and certified by our LBFD, and/or building department, are they not?
“Tanks and tank systems must have secondary containment. Secondary containment can include a liner, vault or double-walled tank. Appurtenances also must be contained. Secondary containment needs to be certified by a professional engineer registered in California. (Section 66265.191- 66265.196.)”
Once is ignorance, twice is stupidity.
You can buy high quality, portable/inflatable thick-walled “containment berm liners” with 300 gallon capacity online for $1,000 or less, that have a 5 year lifespan. They’re all over the web.
Why weren’t they required by the City to install one last summer and contemporaneously pull the permits they’re only now getting around to?
By now a permanent containment enclosure would have precluded this incident.
Didn’t our city officials state last year that this can’t/won’t happen again?
One wonders how Providence Hospital “ gets away with “ this level of negligence. What is wrong with our local governmental requirements & surveillance???