Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 16, 1990 TAG: 9004160239
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CORWIN SPRINGS, MONT. LENGTH: Medium
Workers on Sunday began pumping out 540,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel from the underground tanks, while furious local residents said their fears of an environmental disaster were borne out by the leaks.
"I'd say we're mad as hell," said Richard Parks, who owns an outdoor equipment shop in nearby Gardiner. "I hope they can get [the fuel] out of there. I hope to God people have got the sense not to let them put it back in."
The 35 tanks, with a capacity of 634,500 gallons, were installed last winter in the Church Universal and Triumphant's underground complex. The shelters are on a ranch purchased in 1981 from publisher Malcolm Forbes to prepare for a nuclear catastrophe.
Church officials reported last week that one tank containing diesel fuel had leaked 4,000 gallons into the ground. Two others were reported leaking over the weekend.
Steve Pilcher, chief of Montana's Water Quality Bureau, said 15,000 gallons were unaccounted for Sunday and most likely were in the soil near the complex.
The tanks and the 750-person shelter complex are five miles north of Yellowstone National Park and within several hundred yards of Mol Heron Creek, a cutthroat trout spawning stream that runs into the Yellowstone River.
Small amounts of fuel had reached the creek, but no major damage had occurred, officials said. Pilcher said less than 1,000 gallons of spilled fuel had been recovered, but trenches were dug to capture the fuel before it reached the creek.
By Saturday night, church officials had decided all 35 tanks must be pumped out, excavated and inspected, said Murray Steinman, a sect spokesman.
"After the second and third leaks, we said, `That's it, we're going to get all this out of here,"' Steinman said.
by CNB