Police probing oil spilled into Tionesta Cr.
630 gallons of crude spread over 21 milesBy BRIAN FERRY bferry@timesobserver.com
Article Photos
Police are investigating an oil spill in northern Forest County.
Oil from a tank battery near Mayburg, Howe Township, was seen 21 miles down Tionesta Creek, a high-quality trout stream, this weekend after some of the tanks' valves were opened.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Pennsylvania State Police in Tionesta were contacted at about 10 a.m. Sunday.
According to state police, the incident was initially classified as a case of criminal mischief. After investigating, police were told that a temporary repair device that had been installed at the site had failed. "It is unknown if the failure was caused by an act of nature or by an unknown actor," police wrote.
DEP Spokesperson Freda Tarbell said 630 gallons of crude oil were released this weekend from a tank battery that is the property of Duhring Resources of Sheffield.
According to police, the release took place between 3:30 p.m. Friday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
The tank battery is located within a few hundred yards of Hastings Run, a tributary of Tionesta Creek, Tarbell said.
"After the crude was released, it ran along the ground, some of it collected in a storm water basin," Tarbell said. "Some of it continued going into a roadside ditch and found its way to Hastings Run."
She said about 200 gallons reached Hastings Run.
"The crude got into the tributary and into Tionesta Creek," she said. "A sheen was evident" at three locations on Tionesta Creek.
The sheen was reported at Mayburg, seven miles downstream, at Kelletville, about 11 miles downstream, and at Nebraska Bridge, 21 miles away, Tarbell said.
Cleanup efforts by Duhring Resources included the placement of absorbent booms and pads and the use of a vacuum truck, Tarbell said.
"Duhring has brought in a cleanup crew," Tarbell said. "They are cleaning up the creek and Hastings Run. They have booms and pads all along the creek."
There are also cleanup operations at Mayburg and Nebraska Bridge, she said.
Tarbell said DEP officials have reported no dead fish so far as a result of the release.
The tanks in the battery were capable of holding 150 barrels of crude each, Tarbell said. At 42 gallons per barrel, that's more than 6,000 gallons per tank. She said the incident could have resulted in much more damage if the tanks had been full.
Cherry Grove Volunteer Fire Department participated in the clean-up effort.
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samibigelow
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10-21-09 11:09 AM
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Enviro, do you think the police are going to release all the information they have? are you kidding? what and let the criminals know they are watching them? What a bunch of neurotics. Remember next time you pump gas, use your oil heat and see a semi travel the road, oil is obsolete. I know ours comes from Canada and the local oil goes to Bradford but, still we all use oil products, don't forget about vaseline, too or parafin, and so many more things we rely on that come from oil.
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Environmentalist
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10-21-09 10:39 AM
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Bowhunter, where do you bow hunt? Certainly not in the ANF or you would have to witness the total destruction the oil producers are doing to it! What is obsolete is trying to get small quantities of oil from these played out stripper wells. Who needs expensive, hard to produce oil? We need mass quantities of easily accessible oil! We need fewer, high producing wells not lot's of small producing wells that take more energy or do more destruction than they are worth? Your name isn't John Peterson is it? He said he was going to do more bowhunting when he "reluctantly retired" a while back! And I'da thought he was the only screwball that would like bowhunting and oil production!
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Riggle
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10-20-09 8:48 PM
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I am unwilling to agree to the steady degradation of the environment due to careless companies and inept regulatory agencies. Whether or not the companies "make money", or "hundreds of people" work for them should make any difference. How does DEP know how much crude was in the tanks? This sounds very much like last year's spill that ruined Chapel Fork. This is disgusting.
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bowhunter
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10-20-09 8:16 PM
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Obsolete industry? Just when did we become on oil-free society?? I'm fairly certain that the hundreds of people employed by the oil industry in Warren County alone would argue that it is far from obsolete. Especially with new technologies such as horizontal drilling in the Marcellus coming on-line.
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Kinzuaqueen
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10-20-09 8:08 PM
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I thought that a tank battery had to have a containment field to be in compliance with regulations so if a spill occurred by accident or intentional that it would be contained and certainly not go into a stream. Violations go on everyday, however, with the new state budget and the large cuts in the DEP budget and the growing reguest for new permits associated with the Marcellus Shale drilling get ready for more incidents that are much more serious and have long lasting quality of life consequences.
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garypayton
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10-20-09 7:23 PM
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As long as state and local leaders treat natural areas like industrial zones this will happen again and again and again. Accident or not, these spills happen far too frequently. These are the big ones that cause public concern that get media attention. Imagine what goes on that we never hear about. All that damage caused by an obsolete industry... What are we leaving for the next generation? A contaminated brownfield.
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Riggle
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10-20-09 5:05 PM
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What exactly is a "temporary repair device" that failed? What is that, like a piece of inner tube held together with radiator clamps?! Seems to me that if something needed repaired, it needed to be done pronto. If it failed, the responsibility lies with the company. it has nothing to do with whether or not they can make money. Maybe they need to get out of the business if they can't do it properly. It is too easy to blame vandals for the problem.
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Environmentalist
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10-20-09 2:54 PM
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Wasn't Duhring partnered with Shaboom Oil? Google Shaboom Oil and drugs if you don't know who they are. Sam, what do you know the police do not? Remember the "Horton Spill" when Kirk Johnson from the FAW first blamed it on "environmentalist" only to find out later it was an "inside job" done by oil workers? Who is to say this is not the same thing here? Will Kirk claim this spill was done by environmentalist? Or has he already?
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samibigelow
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10-20-09 9:28 AM
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I think they will find that this had some help to leak. Some people just don't want Duhring to make money. The battle continues against oil men.
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alkalinegram
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10-20-09 8:37 AM
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So how many spills have occurred now? Grant it the big one was man made but, this is about six times.
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