Truckee propane leak seems to be under control

A propane leak closing a portion of Truckee for almost three weeks seems to be under control, officials said this week, but test results showing propane in ground water have brought up the issue of environmental safety.

Tests have shown the propane-extraction system set up last week is working, but water quality concerns linger as health and environmental officials confirmed propane was in water samples near the leak site.

"Typically, this wouldn't be a water quality issue," said Tammy Lundquist of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board. "There's no toxicity standard for propane, and it typically doesn't go into ground water."

Lundquist said Lahontan will continue to monitor ground water to figure out what to do. She said drinking water will not be affected because there are no wells in the area.

"This is a highly unusual situation," she said, pointing out that most information on propane says the gas is insoluble.

Janet Mann of Nevada County Environmental Health said her agency is only responsible for making sure AmeriGas has a proper business plan on file, outlining procedures for dealing with an emergency.

"Business plan inspections are fairly minor," Mann said. "For something like this, the plan is flushed."

Mann said the small amount of propane in the water is an environmental hazard, not a health hazard.

After almost three weeks of propane leak damage control and cleanup, emergency response teams and environmental officials finally seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief.

"You know, I came in with bad news last time -- I have no bad news now," John Bradley of H2O Environmental said Friday, two days after crews had set up a system to extract propane vapors from the soil under Donner Pass Road.

The leak was first detected Jan. 23, when an employee of Granite Chief, a retail ski store, smelled ethyl mercaptan, an additive giving propane a detectable odor.

The Truckee fire department found explosive levels of propane in the store and evacuated employees and nearby businesses. A faulty pipe at the AmeriGas propane station was later identified as the source.

Officials have not been able to quantify the amount of propane released into the soil, but AmeriGas is unable to account for approximately 22,000 gallons since March.

H2O Environmental's extraction system has been effective, sucking vapor from the ground and mixing oxygen with it before it's released into the atmosphere. But Bradley cannot estimate how much propane has been removed from the soil.