Canoe launches to be closed for at least a month
Work to contain the minor oil spill into the Connoquenessing Creek on Thursday will continue for about a month.
John Myers, owner of Professional Enterprises Inc. in Karns City, said the “motherlode” of oil has been trapped, absorbed and disposed of by his crews.
He said booms with oil-absorbing pads will remain strung across the creek for about a month at the CERTA industrial site in Butler, where the accidental spill originated, and at the Eckstein Road Canoe Launch, which is overseen by Allegheny Aquatic Alliance.
Alliance leaders announced online that Renfrew and Eckstein Road launches will remain closed until cleanup is complete.
Myers said the last two booms, just downstream of the bridge carrying Reibold Road over the creek in Forward Township, are showing hardly any oil, meaning most of the oil has been remediated.
The booms will remain to soak up as much remaining oil as possible.
The spill occurred when residual oil in pipes beneath oil tanks was pumped out accidentally and ran into a nearby storm drain at the CERTA site. The storm drain leads directly into the creek.
CERTA co-owner Jake Bamberger said Professional Enterprises will pump the remaining residual oil from the pipes at the site, which is the former Armco Plant 2, to ensure no further oil finds its way into the creek.
