Thousands of gallons of oil leaks into creek

Work is continuing to clean up almost 5,000 gallons of fuel oil that leaked into Hominy Creek, North Carolina. The spill occurred on Friday February 14th when diesel fuel leaked from a storage tank. The tank was on a facility owned by Harrison Construction. It is not yet known exactly how much of the oil made it to the creek.

It is thought that around 3,000 gallons of the fuel oil spread past the containment area on the site, possibly into the creek. It isn't known whether the leak was caused by human or mechanical error, Harrison Construction president, Todd Quigg told the Citizen's Times. 

The oil was able to leak from the storage tank and spread past the secondary containment system into a storm water runoff pipe, which led to Hominy Creek. Based on the levels of fuel that were recorded as being in the tank, state environmental officials estimated that it is likely around 5,000 gallons leaked in total.

Crews continued to work on the spill throughout the weekend, with local environmental groups, the Environmental Protection Agency and Harrison Construction contractors working on the clean-up. They are attempting to extract as much oil as possible from the water and surrounding soil, while also evaluating the extent of the damage.

Currently, it is too early to know what the extent of the damage is and no fish kills have yet been reported. However, it is possible that the leak will have a long-term effect on the area and monitoring will take place to assure that any effects are limited.

Soil from around the storage tank is being excavated, oil is being cleaned from the storm water pipe and booms have been deployed to capture any sheen on the water, according to Mr Quigg. Testing will take place to assure that the leak has fully been contained, with the Division of Waste Management performing the necessary lab testing. They will state when the spill has been fully cleaned-up.