SeaTac Airport Running on Empty – Alaska and Delta Move to Contingency Plans

[WBHG News – Seattle] U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is demanding answers for why the fuel leak in the BP-owned Olympic Pipeline has yet to be fixed, forcing Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines to implement contingency plans at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

On Friday night, British energy company BP said after excavating 100 feet (30.5 meters) around two pipelines in a Snohomish County blueberry field, the source of the leak that started on November 11 has not been found. Alaska and Delta warned that if the pipeline didn’t restart by Saturday, flight operations at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport would be impacted.

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson declared a state of emergency on Wednesday due to the pause in jet fuel supply to the 12th busiest airport in the United States. The governor temporarily waived regulations that put additional limits on the number of hours truck drivers hauling fuel can work.

On Saturday morning, Alaska and Delta reported that operations at Sea-Tac were normal. Both airlines have implemented contingency plans that could cause delays and inconveniences for passengers.

Alaska Airlines was expanding the amount of jet fuel it was trucking into Sea-Tac airport and would bring in additional fuel on inbound flights to Seattle, a practice known as “ferrying.” A spokesperson with Alaska said that on a limited number of inbound long-haul flights, aircraft may make one or more fuel stops before arriving in Seattle. Delta was taking similar action. Both airlines advised passengers to check the status of their flights before going to the airport.

On Saturday night, FlightAware reported operations were normal at Sea-Tac, with only three departing flights canceled throughout the day. Flight 7097 from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska, scheduled to depart at 12:40 a.m. on Sunday, was canceled, but it was likely due to poor weather.

Senator Cantwell wrote an inquiry to BP CEO Murray Auchincloss. “With so much riding on the reliable transportation of fuel through your system, pipeline safety and operational integrity must be top priorities.”

In her letter, she noted that the outage was happening during the busiest U.S. travel week of the year, and that it would take 90 trucks to deliver “even half of the fuel the airport needs.”

The 400-mile-long Olympic Pipeline is two parallel pipes, one 16 inches and the other 20 inches. It starts at the Ferndale refineries in Whatcom County, Washington, and ends in Portland, Oregon. The pipeline also connects to the Transmountain Puget Sound Pipeline from Canada and the Kinder Morgan Pipeline in Eugene, Oregon.

On November 11, a leak was detected, forcing the closure of both pipelines. The 16-inch line was restarted briefly on the 16th, but the repairs did not solve the problem, forcing BP to close both pipelines again. A spokesperson from the company said they did not have an estimated date for when either pipeline would restart. Repair crews have been working around the clock near Everett, Washington.

The closure has halted jet fuel deliveries from the Cherry Point Oil Refinery in Blaine, Washington, which is the largest producer of aviation fuel in the Pacific Northwest. Normally, the refinery supplies Sea-Tac and Portland International Airport. Officials in Portland said the airport won’t be affected because it can receive fuel deliveries by barge, due to its location on the Columbia River. Paine Field in Everett, Washington, is also not affected because of the limited number of commercial flights from the airport.

The Olympic Pipeline has had a troubled history, including significant leaks in 2014, 2022, 2023, and a 1999 explosion that killed three children at Whatcom Falls Park in Bellingham. In 2003, Shell Pipeline Company, then the owner of Olympic Pipeline, reached a $92 million settlement with the EPA. The Washington State Department of Ecology fined BP $3.8 million for the 2023 leak near Conway, which dumped almost 25,000 gallons of gasoline into a drainage ditch.

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