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Ammonia Leak Evacuation Order Lifted; U.S. 301 Open

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

Updated: 11/14/2007 07:47 pm

Video: WFLA Team Coverage

RIVERVIEW - The evacuation order has been lifted for more than 300 residents, three schools and numerous businesses affected by this week's ammonia pipeline leak.

Shortly after noon today, Hillsborough County officials announced the lifting of the quarter-mile evacuation zone instituted after a 16-year-old boy drilled into an ammonia pipeline and caused a major chemical leak.

U.S. 301 should be open for traffic over the Alafia River bridge this afternoon, authorities said.

"What a difference 12 hours makes," county spokesman Willie Puz said. Air quality monitoring has been completed, and initial reports have shown no visible effect on the environment, he said.

Aside from the teenager, who had ammonia burns on about 20 percent of his body, no one was injured. A handful of firefighters were treated for breathing problems Monday night, but they were released from the hospital by Tuesday morning.

The biggest impact has been on the lives of residents and local business, which have remained closed for two days, Puz said.

"Now is a great time to go and support these local businesses," he said.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Capt. Bruce Delk said the agency has been given the all-clear to open the area.

"The patch is on [the pipe]. The company is OK with it, and we're good to go," Delk said.

Riverview Elementary School will be reopen tomorrow, school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said. Students who were taken to Spoto High School for child care will remain there for the rest of the today.

There's no word yet on whether two private schools, The Center Academy and Children's First Academy, will also reopen.

State Sen. Ronda Storms said she met with the Fire Rescue leadership and that she was frustrated by having had two ammonia leaks on the same pipeline in Hillsborough County. In 2003, the same pipeline was ruptured in the FishHawk subdivision, and the cleanup took 72 hours.

"Two times in four years is too many," Storms said. "We have an obligation … to make sure we prevent this from happening again."

Storms said she would work to bring accountability to the company that owns the pipeline, Tampa Pipeline Corp.

Storms said small business owners have asked her for help. She said they suffered significant loss of business.

The pipeline's vulnerability to vandalism or accidents must be fixed "so people can go to bed at night and know they are safe," she said.

"We will hold this company responsible," Storms said. "They breached their responsibility and their credibility."

Storms said she recognizes the leak was not an accident. She still will ask for the issue be put on the agenda of the Senate's next domestic security committee meeting, she said. She wants to know whether it's possible to pass legislation to affect the status of permits of companies that are the source of environmental disasters.

"They met with the letter but not the spirit of the law," she said of Tampa Pipeline Corp.

The senator said she would like to see strict liability established for businesses and people who damage in disasters such as this, but she declined to say whether her efforts could help people affected by this week's ammonia leak.

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