West Limestone High School students Janey Motes, left, and Kari White discuss their research into the recent xylene spill in the Owens community with environmental science teacher Jerry Smith. The students are seeking answers to their own questions about the spill and whether it will affect people, animals and the rest of the environment. (News Courier/Kim Rynders)

A recent chemical spill in the Owens community has some students at West Limestone High School looking for answers of their own.

Students in Jerry Smith’s environmental science classes are studying the effects of xylene and how it might affect them and the environment.

“This has definitely raised their awareness,” Smith said of his students. “They are becoming aware that as an adult, there is no one looking out for you in relationship to exposure to pollutants — you have to do it yourself.”

In December, at least 500 gallon of the chemical, which smells like paint thinner, leaked from an underground pipeline and into a field and pond off Alabama 99 near Lebanon Church. BP American, which owns the pipeline, uses xylene in making polyester fibers and plastic containers at the BP Amoco plant in Decatur.

On Tuesday, students in one environmental science class were in the school’s computer laboratory looking up articles about xylene on the Internet. They were asking questions that have not yet been answered as the cleanup continues. Their questions will be submitted to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management in Montgomery with hopes of getting answers.

“I wonder how they check for those leaks, how many other leaks they have had and how this leak affects our environment,” said Janey Motes, 17, who drives by the cleanup site daily.

Fellow student Kari White, 17, wonders whether any amount of the chemical is safe.

Motes and White are doubly interested in the topic because they are also health-occupations students at the Limestone Career Technical Center and plan to pursue careers in health care.

The spill has sparked an interest in the students mainly because it is so close to home.

“Some have even read information about it at home,” Smith said. “They really do have an interest in these things without punching them with a stick.”

When the spill began is still unclear.

The odor was first noticed Dec. 20. It was traced to the BP pipeline that runs from the Whiting Refinery in northern Indiana through Limestone County to the Decatur plant.

The pipeline was shut down Dec. 29 when the leak was reported, but not before 60,000 gallons of liquid seeped onto the ground. Initially, it was reported that xylene made up 25 of the 60,000 gallons. Later, it was reported that xylene made up 500 gallons of the total.

Students want to know how much xylene actually spilled and how much was ultimately recovered.

Three wells in the area were tested after the leak and BP said the water tested safe.

EPA guidelines say 10 parts per million is safe for human consumption. Tests of water in a nearby pond where cattle drink showed 4 parts of xylene per million. The students wonder if even 10 parts per million are safe. They want to know more about the effects of long-term exposure.

“I would like to know if xylene can be ingested through the food we eat – cattle, deer chickens that might have consumed it,” said Trey Evans, 18.

Although some articles suggest xylene is a carcinogen or cancer-causing substance, other articles say scientists do not know.

“According to the research, it is not clear if it is a carcinogen,” said Pearl Spry, 17. “They are not sure.”

Although the leak has been repaired and the pipeline reactivated, the cleanup continues. Workers are diverting contaminated water from the spill to interceptor trenches and pumping it through a hose under 99 to a large, white tanker truck across the highway. Nine piles of dirt covered with plastic sheeting have been exhumed for removal.

Smith wonders how large and deep an area workers plan to remove.

District 4 Commissioner Bill Daws told fellow Limestone County Commissioners on Jan. 21 that all contaminated soil would be moved out of state.

“I wonder if it will be dumped in an acceptable landfill,” said Will Hodges, 18.

BP has installed monitoring wells at the site, but the students wonder if the wells will be monitored longer than six weeks, as has been stated.

“I don’t feel like it is safe because it is still in the water,” said Elizabeth Pylant, 18.

When the leak occurred, ADEM officials said they believed lightning might have caused the rupture. One official said lightning may have struck a surface valve and followed the pipeline into the ground, blowing a 1 1/2-inch hole in the pipe.

“There is a lot of skepticism about that,” Smith said.

Several students also wondered what is being done to prevent future leaks.

“I think they should test the ground in different places every so often,” said Jessie Gaston, 18.

Smith is pleased with the way his students are researching the effects of xylene and other pollutants and asking questions.

“They are becoming aware that as an adult, there is no one looking out for you in relationship to exposure to pollutants — you have to do it yourself.”