DIESEL FUEL SPILLS INTO LITTLE KANAWHA RIVER

(03/02/2004)

Officials with the state Division of Environmental Protection estimate it could take two weeks to clean up a major diesel fuel spill in the Little Kanawha and Ohio River. DEP officials say 500 to 600 gallons of the fuel leaked from an 8,500-gallon storage tank along the Little Kanawha River in Parkersburg Saturday night. The tank belonged to Carl Kelly Paving. Accumulated ice in the tank caused a pipeline to rupture, says DEP Spokesperson Jessica Greathouse. The spill has since moved downstream into the Ohio River. Weavertown Environmental is working with heavy equipment to remove contaminated soil. There are a series of absorbent booms in the river collecting runoff from the asphalt, which continues to breakdown as the diesel trickles from the runoff, said DEP. The spill stretches three miles downstream from Parkersburg. Citations have not been issued, but Greathouse says they will be once the investigation is complete. Officials have yet to report significant damage to fish or other aquatic life in the two rivers.

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