Chelan PUD Turbine Has Two Potential Spills in 6 Months

Chelan PUD has had two potential oil spills from one of its turbines this year. The first possible spill was earlier in June when 208 gallons were reported missing and the PUD took the unit offline for a check up and to update equipment on it.

"We put it back into operation this summer and then we detected, when we did a proactive check inspection, in late summer, early fall, we determined there were 105 gallons missing from that unit," said Neil Neroutsos, Chelan PUD corporate communications manager.

Total, there is about roughly 300 gallons missing. According to Neroutsos, that turbine is currently offline as the PUD works toward a fix both short term and long term.

"We have an aging system, Rock Island was built in the 1930s and Rocky Reach in the 1960s. We're actively managing these aging systems so that we can make sure doing everything we can to provide both short term and long term fixes. So we're in the midst of aggressive capital spending to protect our hydro power system and make sure we're doing all the right things to keep it operating properly," said Neroutsos. "And that we're accounting things that might be happening there and reporting them to the Department of Ecology and others."