1,200 gallons of diesel fuel deliberately spilled into Black River

Police say someone deliberately spilled more than 1,200 gallons of diesel fuel from the pumps at Black River Produce Sunday morning, letting the fuel reach the nearby Black River through a storm drain.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100810/NEWS02/708109891/1003/NEWS02       # # # #  1,200 gallons of diesel fuel deliberately spilled into Black River  •  Booms soak up fuel in the Black River across the road from Black River Produce in North Springfield on Monday.  •  Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald  •  By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: August 10, 2010  •  NORTH SPRINGFIELD — Police say someone deliberately spilled more than 1,200 gallons of diesel fuel from the pumps at Black River Produce Sunday morning, letting the fuel reach the nearby Black River through a storm drain.  •  Springfield Police Officer Anthony Leonard said Monday that the incident was under investigation, but he declined to say whether police already has a suspect.  •  Leonard said the two hoses from the diesel pump were left in such a way as to immediately raise questions about the incident, and Leonard said it all but eliminated any thought the incident was an accident.  •  “I think this was an intentional and malicious act by someone,” said Stephen Birge, co-owner of the firm. “It wasn’t an accident. Someone turned on the pumps and let them run.”  •  Birge said he had no idea of anyone who had a grudge against the company, saying it had been “months and months” since someone had lost their job there.  •  “Your first thought is ‘disgruntled employee.’ I honestly can’t think of anyone who would do this,” said Birge, who founded the company in Ludlow with his friend and co-owner Mark Curran more than 32 years ago.  •  He said that the pumps are not locked, and that on Sunday morning, there is a small time window when the plant is not staffed and that is when the vandalism took place. He said the company had since made security changes to avoid such a situation again.  •  Two trucks had fueled and left just before the incident was discovered, he said, and were due back shortly.  •  The fuel spill, which was discovered shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday by a man out for a morning walk, reached a storm drain, which releases into the Black River, a short distance from the produce firm.  •  Black River Product moved into the former Idlenot Farm Dairy plant five years ago, from its location in Proctorsville.  •  Leonard said that the Springfield Fire Department immediately responded to contain the fuel, and Vermont’s hazardous materials response team and the Agency of Natural Resources also helped contain and clean up the diesel.  •  He said Sunday morning the smell in North Springfield was very strong, and he believed that is what alerted the man who reported it.The amount of fuel lost was estimated from fuel inventories at the produce company, which runs a large fleet, delivering produce, cheese, meat, seafood and flowers all over Vermont in the company’s distinctive strawberry-decorated trucks.  •  Birge said more formal calculations were being done.  •  Leonard refused to say exactly how the pump and two hoses were left that raised police suspicions. “It was something done intentionally,” Leonard said.  •  When asked if the police already had a suspect, he said “We’re working toward that; we’re working in that direction.”  •  Kenneth Cox, a fisheries biologist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, based in Springfield, said that there was no reported fish kill from the spill, and so far he hadn’t been called in to assess the impact to the river habitat.  •  Leonard said that state officials on Sunday quickly deployed more than a mile of absorbent booms on the river, stretching along Route 106 down to the Springfield Shopping Plaza. He said the smell of diesel had largely dissipated by Monday due to the cleanup efforts on Sunday.  •  He said he didn’t know when the vandalism occurred, but by the time he responded to the call, there was diesel fuel halfway down the river toward Riverside Bridge.  •  “You could see the sheen and there was a definite odor,” Leonard said.  •  He said Black River Produce’s paved parking lot was cleaned up with Speedy Dry, an absorbent material, along with other absorbent pads.  •  He said the investigation would look into the loss of the fuel to the company, as well as the damage to the environment.  •