Officials Respond to Oil Leak Into Indian River

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Category: News

Created on Friday, 20 December 2024 15:45

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By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Heating oil leaked from a storage tank on Metlakatla Street and seeped into Indian River this morning, triggering a combined response from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Coast Guard, among other agencies, a state DEC official told the Sentinel.
     The Coast Guard, coordinating with the DEC, went to the spill site and deployed absorbent materials to contain the spread of the spilled fuel from the above-ground 500-gallon tank, said Rachel Krajewski, the DEC spill prevention and response coordinator for the incident, speaking to the Sentinel by phone from her office in Juneau. It is unclear how much oil leaked from the tank, but the leak has stopped, she said, and oil is no longer entering the river, which is salmon bearing.

Jordan Tanguay, Sitka National Historical Park biologist, right, uses a bilge pump to remove oily water from a stream flowing into Indian River this morning, as Jared Hazel, park maintenance worker, carries out buckets. Tanguay discovered the fuel leak this morning as she walked through the park. She spent the morning helping do mitigation work. The leaked fuel was traced to a 500-gallon tank on private land. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

    Members of the Sitka Fire Department, Sitka Police Department and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game also responded to the spill.
    Krajewski said the spill originated from a disused heating oil tank on the campus of Sitka Counseling, which is adjacent to Sitka National Historical Park and a short distance from the river.
    “There’s a 500-gallon, old, out-of-service heating oil tank, and the exact cause is still under investigation, but there are visible impacts from the spill on the property where the tank is located, and then also... in Indian River,” Krajewski said. It’s likely, she said in a followup message, that fuel may have reached the river through a culvert, but “fuel is no longer moving through the culvert and impacting the river at this time.”
    Heating oil spills such as this are “fairly common” in the state, Krajewski added. She recommended that Sitkans inspect their oil tanks to ensure they’re in good condition.
    She said first responders spread absorbent materials near the tank, where there was visible oil on the ground, and also where it appeared fuel was entering the river.
    “They’ve got a lot of absorbents out right now to try to catch what they can,” Krajewski said.
    “We’re working with the property owner to recover as much product as possible, to prevent additional migration into the river, and we can continue to guide them through that process over the weekend,” she said. “There will probably be longer-term cleanup to make sure everything is cleaned up in accordance with our regulations.”
    The DEC first learned of the spill around 10:15 this morning with a call from the Coast Guard.
    A National Park Service biologist smelled diesel fuel as she was walking near Indian River around 8 a.m. today. She traced it to a small stream contaminated with oil that was flowing into the river, and informed the park maintenance staff.