Jackson Gasoline Spill Riles Nearby Residents

The petroleum industry says underground pipelines are the safest way to transport fuels. But when a pipeline breaks, hundreds of people may be affected.

About 54,000 gallons of gas spilled in the town of Jackson two weeks ago, from a pipeline owned by West Shore Pipe Line Company. The fuel has polluted at least a dozen private drinking water wells. Some local residents say the pipeline company has been slow to respond. West Shore’s Patrick Hodgins apologized to Tuesday night’s crowd.

Getting it right includes having chemical filters installed on some water faucets, and paying for bottled water and hotel rooms for people living in a new flush-only advisory area where the DNR urges not using well water for bathing, drinking or gardening. Pat Dano lives in that neighborhood and says the pollution isn’t what she expected in a small town 30 miles from Milwaukee, “I came out to the country to enjoy myself out here, not to stay in a hotel.”

Eventually some homeowners may need a new well drilled to a deeper and presumably cleaner aquifer. Steve Ales of the Wisconsin DNR says wells now spoiled by gasoline chemicals like benzene may be polluted for a long while.

The DNR Tuesday night also announced that well testing would be expanded to a nearby high school and the public water supply in the village of Jackson. The pipeline that leaked carries fuel between Green Bay and Chicago. A lab is still trying to determine what caused the break.