BP drains oil so Indiana pipe can be replaced

HAMMOND, Ind. -- BP continued Friday to drain about 90,000 gallons of refined oil from a 3-mile stretch of pipeline so it can replace a section after a 1-inch crack was discovered.

The crack was found Thursday evening, two days after excavating crews began searching for it when residents in a Hammond neighborhood complained about gasoline fumes. The leak in the 63-year-old pipeline was in an a place where it turns, said Jim Mitchell, the federal Environmental Protection Agency's on-scene coordinator for the project.

A temporary sleeve has been placed over the pipeline while it is drained.

Mitchell said that work should take about a day and more digging is being done to determine how much pipe must be replaced. BP spokesman Brad Etlin said the company expects to replace a 15-foot pipe section.

The pipe runs from BP's refinery in nearby Whiting to Manhattan, Ill., about 35 miles away.

Officials said they don't know how much oil leaked from the pipe. Mitchell said about 16,500 gallons of fluid has been collected from the sewer system and surrounding area, but much of it was water. There also is about 12 tons of polluted soil and 2 tons of asphalt and debris that must be disposed of, he said.

The EPA has ordered BP to pay for the cleanup.

As a precaution, BP plans to dig up and replace another section of pipe about two blocks away where the pipe bends again, Mitchell said.