HILLSBOROUGH: 2,000 gallons of gas leaked, company says

   More gasoline than earlier thought leaked in December through a pinhole in a Buckeye Pipeline Company gasoline line under Route 206 near New Amwell Road.
   Company spokesman David Boone told the Hillsborough Township Committee on Tuesday night that more than 2,200 gallons of gasoline was lost in the accident.
   Mr. Boone said the company had installed 13 monitoring wells by the first of February and had detected “very low levels” of benzene in three of them. The company was also testing water from three existing potable wells, and saw no impact in those, he said. Monitoring would continue indefinitely, he said.
      Residents who smelled gasoline emanating from the storm sewer system led to the search for a leak on the weekend of Dec. 8-9. The investigatory work narrowed Route 206 to one lane for a few days.
   Mr. Boone said the company was “in the process of squaring up” with about 12 businesses in the Sunnyland Plaza and nearby areas for disruption of business in the peak Christmas season.
   Mr. Boone presented Bruce Vatter, chief of Fire Company No. 1, with a check for $70,000 to cover a dozen departments’ expenses for standing by, if needed, for fire suppression.
      A minimum of four firefighters, wearing full turn-out gear, and one chief officer were on site 24 hours per day, the chief said. Buckeye also compensated the companies for the use of class A pumpers, tankers and support vehicles on scene at all times, he said.
   In answer to a question from Committeeman Greg Burchette, Mr. Boone said the cause of the pinhole was still under investigation.
   ’The failure point in the casing under the highway was on the east side of the road, about five feet from the shoulder, Mr. Boone said that month.
   Buckeye restarted the pipeline flow Feb. 7, the company said. Mr. Boone said Buckeye will be back in the first quarter of 2013 to make landscaping repairs.