Washington State Governor Bob Feruguson issued an emergency declaration to prioritize jet fuel supply for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport following a pipeline leak.
The leak occurred near Everitt last week and has been shut down for repairs.
The Olympic Pipeline delivers jet fuel to Sea-Tac.
A round-the-clock effort is underway excavate, contain, clean and repair the leak.
It is expected to take a day but authorities gave no timeline for when the pipeline can resume fuel deliveries.
Ferguson says flight operations at Sea-Tac could be ‘significantly affected’ if it is not back up by Saturday.
There has been no impact so far at the airport but the Governor is taking no changes.
He waived hours restrictions on jet fuel tanker driver duty to enable as many jet fuel deliveries at the airport as possible.
The Washington State Department of Ecology said: “Our cleanup includes using a vacuum truck and adsorbent materials, along with cleaning up contaminated soil. Responders are still determining the amount spilled.”
Alaska Airlines also released a statement: “We are working to mitigate a potential impact from the Olympic Pipeline fuel leak. We are not currently experiencing any disruption to our operation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.”
“To ensure our scheduled service is maintained without significant disruption, we are preparing contingency plans, which include fuel management strategies such as tankering in fuel on inbound flights to Seattle.”
Other airlines have also set up similar contingency plans, the airport said.
