This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Aug. 30 HollyFrontier Refinery explosion in Woods Cross did not significantly pollute nearby Mill Creek, according to the Utah Division of Water Quality.
The explosion at 393 S. 800 West that burst through the roof of an oil storage tank spewed an estimated 8,400 gallons of oil on houses, businesses and vehicles in Woods Cross, West Bountiful and Bountiful. Workers from the Division of Water Quality analyzed Mill Creek for pollutants, according to a statement from division director Walt Baker.
"We collected samples of spill oil so that we would be able to identify if the petrochemicals in the water were from Holly oil, as opposed to other sources, such as oil from roads and parking lots," he said.
"However, because the level of contamination we measured [in the creek] after the first rain was so low, and the number of contaminants so few, we didn't feel the need to analyze the Holly oil samples because it is unlikely that additional results would tell us anything new," Baker said.
Christopher Smart