State increases fuel spill total

The Agency of Natural Resources more than tripled the amount of diesel fuel released into Black River over the weekend in what police and officials at Black River Produce was a deliberate act.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100811/NEWS02/708119907/1003/NEWS02     State increases fuel spill total  •  Rutland Herald  •   By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: August 11, 2010  •  NORTH SPRINGFIELD – The Agency of Natural Resources more than tripled the amount of diesel fuel released into Black River over the weekend in what police and officials at Black River Produce was a deliberate act.  •  Gary Kessler, director for compliance and enforcement for the Agency of Natural Resources, said Tuesday at least 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel was missing from the diesel fuel tank at Black River Produce. At 4,000 gallons, it is one of the largest spills or releases in the state’s history, he said.  •  He said the figure was reached based on the known inventory at the company’s one diesel depot and estimates of how much fuel had been pumped out since the last delivery and what remained in the tank, along with pumping tests.  •  “It doesn’t appear to be an accident,” said Kessler, who noted that Springfield police were conducting a criminal investigation into the release. Kessler said the incident was not a spill, which infers an accident, but a “release.”  •  “We’re estimated over 4,000 gallons were released,” he said.  •  He said so far about 2,200 gallons of diesel fuel, with some contaminants, had been recovered from the river. He said that a 3-mile stretch of Black River downstream from Black River Produce showed the effects of the fuel spill. He said low water flows in the river were hampering the cleanup effort.  •  He said there had been no reports of any dead fish, although one “fouled fowl” had been taken to a veterinarian to be cleaned of diesel fuel. He said as he understood it, the bird was cleaned with Dawn dish detergent because of its ability to cut through grease and oil. He said he didn’t know what kind of bird it was, other than a water fowl.  •  “A good rain event would help us clean it up,” said Kessler, adding the diesel fuel was on the river’s rocky banks and it was hard to clean off. The water would lift the oil off the rocks, and then it could be vacuumed up, he said.  •  “People are out there on the river,” he said, noting that Black River Produce had hired an environmental cleanup company to handle the job. He said a lot of the diesel fuel, which floats on water, could be collected via the the absorbent booms placed on the river downstreet, Kessler said previous to the Black River Produce release, the biggest spills and releases were at Stowe Mountain Resort and as a result of a traffic accident involving a speeding fuel-oil truck in Northfield, which spilled about 3,300 gallons.  •  Kessler said that ANR biologists had checked the river all the way to the Connecticut River, and they hadn’t seen a lot of evidence of the oil reaching that far downstream.  •  Black River, as it winds through downtown Springfield, goes over several falls, emulsifying the diesel fuel and helping it evaporate, he said.  •  “The company is paying for the cleanup,” he said, noting the state also has a petroleum cleanup fund to protect the environment.  •  “At least here in Vermont, we were able to stop the flow,” Kessler said, referring to the recently capped oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which spewed millions of gallons of oil from a BP undersea oil well. “This was a big improvement over the Gulf,” he said.  •  Kessler said no arrests had been made in the case. When the release was discovered Sunday morning, police said it was immediately obviously someone had deliberately released the fuel.  •