Cleanup efforts underway in Howard’s Creek after diesel spill
By Stephen Baldwin & Jenny Harnish, RealWV
CALDWELL, WV — The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (WVDEP) efforts to cleanup from yesterday’s diesel spill on Interstate 64 near Caldwell continued overnight and into Wednesday.
According to initial reports, a tractor trailer traveling along the interstate carrying diesel fuel in drums wrecked, spilling up to 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Later reports walked back that amount. WVDEP’s incident report estimates the spill at 2,800 gallons, though the truck was carrying 5,000 gallons overall. The spill occurred at 6:12am on Tuesday at mile marker 174 near the White Sulphur Springs exit. The truck is owned by M&A Premium Logistics, according to the WVDEP report.
Greenbrier County Homeland Security & Emergency Management said on Tuesday, “There is no concern for drinking water quality currently.” A boil water advisory issued by nearby the City of While Sulphur Springs issued on Wednesday morning was unrelated to the spill, according to Mayor Thomas Taylor.
WVDEP remained on scene overnight along with workers from Evergreen Environmental. They built an underflow dam in Howard’s Creek, which runs near the affected area of interstate, to collect diesel that ran from the storm drain culvert on the interstate down to the creek below.
“Environmental contractors are using containment measures and vacuum trucks in the concrete spillway to prevent additional material from entering the watershed,” WVDEP told RealWV on Wednesday via Terry Fletcher. “In-stream protections, including hard and soft containment booms and absorbent pads, have been deployed in Howard’s Creek and are being continuously monitored and replaced as needed. No free product (visible pooling or concentrated diesel) is being observed in the waterway, though light sheening remains in isolated areas. This is expected during petroleum cleanup operations and is anticipated to diminish as remediation continues. No fish-kill has been observed at this time.”
“Soil remediation activities are expected to begin Thursday and will include confirmational sampling to ensure impacted material is properly removed,” Fletcher concluded.
Autumn Crowe, Deputy Director of the WV Rivers Coalition, thanked first responders for their swift action to preserve the integrity of local waterways after the spill. “With summer approaching, many of us are looking forward to recreating in the Greenbrier River. The safety of that water was put in jeopardy yesterday when a wreck on I-64 spilled diesel fuel into one of its tributaries, Howard Creek. We commend the actions of the emergency responders who quickly and effectively contained the spill and prevented the toxic chemicals from impacting the waters we rely on for swimming and drinking.”
