Possible diesel leak detected at Charlotte pipeline facility, officials say

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By Liz Foster

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A possible diesel leak was detected Monday morning in an underground pipeline at a Charlotte pipeline facility.

The company that operates a pipeline on the property Kinder Morgan told Channel 9 crews discovered a possible leak.

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As a precaution, officials said the company shut down the suspected part of the pipeline and called Charlotte firefighters to be on standby.

"At this time, cleanup crews are on site," Charlotte Fire Capt. Dennis Gist said. " They've done some precautionary things by putting some dams. Trying to prevent it if it were to get into any creek, but at this time, it's not in any creeks, so there's not any environmental damage at this time."

Crews at the facility said the area where there is a possible leak is contained and they are starting to dig to find out where the possible leak is to repair it.

In Charlotte, the pipe runs underground on the Colonial Pipeline property.

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The system is one of the nation's largest petroleum pipe line systems known as Plantation Pipe Line.

The pipe line runs from Louisiana through several big cities including Charlotte and ends in the Washington D.C. area.

A spokesperson for the company that operates the pipeline said even though they have shut down the pipeline in the area, the pipeline was not being used when the leak was discovered.

After excavating the pipelines in the Charlotte area, Kinder Morgan's spokesperson said the suspected leak was not from the Plantation Pipe Line System.

This is an ongoing investigation. 

Check back with wsoctv.com for updates on this story.

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