By Peggy Mackenzie
According to 911 Executive Director Al Whitaker, “It still looks as though the clean up efforts following the diesel fuel spill of Jan. 30 will continue through next week.”
Whitaker said Core Environmental Services consultants with the EPA and DEP are in charge handling the booms at the spill site, at Blue Bend on Anthony Creek, and on the Greenbrier River at the Lewisburg water intake site and will remain in place for awhile. The booms serve to collect any diesel fuel on the surface. Soil at the spill site is also being removed to a hazardous waste approved site until soil samples are cleared as non contaminated.
Regarding wild life and fish, Whitaker said the Department of Natural Resources is overseeing that aspect of the monitoring, although no negative impact on fish in the wake of a diesel fuel spill was observed.
“You never know for sure what all the impacts are, but we didn’t find any dead fish on Anthony Creek from the spill site all the way down to the Greenbrier River,” said Mark Scott, district fisheries biologist for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, in a report by WV Metro News. “My assistant was up there and surveyed the creek and even saw some live fish in Anthony Creek. Hopefully as far as fish are concerned, we dodged a bullet.”
“Anthony Creek is a popular trout fishing stream in the area which is regularly stocked by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources trout program. The next stockings aren’t scheduled until next week,” said Tom Oldham with the Cold Water Fisheries Division in Elkins.
“Right now we are evaluating and monitoring the stream conditions,” said Oldman. “We’ll make a determination later on whether to delay the stocking.”
