LOWER BURRELL, Pa. — Crews worked Tuesday to clean what they could of a hydraulic oil spill that happened at the Braeburn Alloy Steel Plant Monday, where an undetermined amount of oil went into the Allegheny County River.
Video from Drone 11 showed visible oil-stained ice along the bank of the Allegheny River from that spill.
“My first reaction was, ‘not again,’” said Captain Evan Clark with Three Rivers Waterkeeper.
Clark was out on a boat Tuesday morning assessing the spill and said he could still see the shimmer of oil almost two miles downstream from the dam.
“I haven’t seen oil spills from that facility before, but it’s not uncommon to see oil on our rivers still, it’s kind of a legacy of the steel industry, and as we get more and more failing infrastructure,” Clark told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said the source of the leak has been identified and the release of oil was stopped Monday.
On Tuesday, crews from the DEP were onsite overseeing contractors working to clean up the spill, which they said primarily was vacuuming and placing an absorbent material.
Channel 11 also saw them digging out some debris from an outlet of the steel plant that leads to the river.
Clark said he’s worried about the wildlife in that area.
“I know there’s a pretty dense mussel bed right below the dam there that potentially could be affected by this spill as well,” Clark said.
The DEP said crews didn’t see any impact on aquatic life.
But, Clark said these plants and other businesses where oil could spill into the river need to find ways to prevent that.
“Having the protection for the river to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future is really huge,” he said.
The DEP said nearby drinking water facilities have been notified but there have not been any reported issues.
For now, Clark said to avoid fishing in the area.
“I think everybody would know that they wouldn’t want to be eating those fish,” he said.
The DEP said the oil that made its way into the river and wasn’t contained will continue to dissipate naturally.
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