Oil spills into Connie Creek, canoe launches closed
FORWARD TWP — An apparent oil spill Thursday, Sept. 8, that originated at the former Armco and AK Steel Plant 2 in Butler closed at least two Allegheny Aquatic Alliance canoe and kayak launches along the Connoquenessing Creek on Saturday, Sept. 10.
A state Department of Environmental Protection official, several representatives of the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance, Professional Enterprises Inc. cleanup crews and the landowner in the area of the cleanup were at the site of the Eckstein Road Canoe Launch on Saturday, where several “booms,” or lines stretched across the creek containing oil-absorbant pads, were placed.
Jake Bamberger, co-owner of CERTA of Cincinnati, which owns the former Plant 2 site on Bantam Avenue, said old underground tanks containing oil had been pumped out previously, and workers were pumping out residual oil remaining in the pipes connecting the plants when some of the oil entered a nearby storm drain that empties into the creek.
Bamberger said a minimal amount of oil entered the creek, and Professional Enterprises Inc. of Karns City was called in to do the cleanup.
John Myers, owner of Professional Enterprises, said his workers arrived on the scene within two hours Thursday and immediately set up a boom near the CERTA site, plus six more booms downstream.
The last boom is just downstream from the bridge carrying Reibold Road over the Connoquenessing Creek near the Eckstein Road Canoe Launch.
"That’s a good place for the booms because the water is moving, but not that fast,“ Myers said.
Myers said the booms will remain in the creek for an undetermined amount of time to catch any traces of oil remaining in the creek.
He agreed that the amount of oil that entered the creek is minimal.
“It was not hundreds of gallons, I can tell you that much, but it was more than a boat puts out while it’s on the lake,” Myers said.
He said a small amount of oil will spread across a waterway’s surface and can appear more abundant than it is.
Mike Handley, president of the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance, said the Renfrew and Eckstein Road canoe launches will be closed until further notice due to the booms in the water.
Bamberger hired Myers’ company to pump the remaining residual oil from the pipes on the old Plant 2 property so the situation does not happen again.
“We’re confident that it’s being handled and being taken care of and didn’t harm any wildlife or anything,” Bamberger said.
Art Eckstein, who owns the 20 acres along the creek at the launch, said he saw boom trucks at the site Thursday, but thought they were cutting trees.
On Friday, he noticed the booms across the creek. He has never seen an oil spill in the creek in the more than 65 years he has lived on the property.
“Only in my younger days when we used to fish cars out of here,” Eckstein said.
He is thrilled the DEP is overseeing the work and that the oil spill is being dealt with. “Fifteen years ago, they would have let it run down the creek,” Eckstein said. “I’m sure they have a handle on it.”
Handley arrived on the scene Saturday and peered into the oil-covered water that he and hundreds of volunteers have worked to clear of tires and debris for a decade.
The Connoquenessing was the second-most-polluted waterway in the U.S. at one point, but thanks to the efforts of the alliance and its volunteers, the quality of the creek has steadily improved and wildlife and fish are increasing in numbers.
“It’s a tragedy,” Handley said. “Hopefully our aquatic species aren’t suffering too much, but it is oil.”
He said he immediately contacted the Wild Waterways group when he was informed of the spill, as it owns a few of the launches along the creek as well.
“We were seeing the aquatic species coming back,” Handley said. “It would be really sad to see it go in reverse.”
