65, 000 Gallons of Oil Sludge Spills Near Chicago.

[elleng]

Source: NYT/AP

ROCKDALE, Ill. (AP) -- A holding tank at a Caterpillar facility in a Chicago suburb broke Sunday, spilling about 65,000 gallons of oil sludge and contaminating a 3-mile section of the Des Plaines River, officials said.

The substance was reported to be hydraulic and cutting oil, said Maggie Carson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

''It is being contained, and there is no evidence of a fish kill or harm to water fowl,'' Carson said in an e-mail.

Most of the sludge spilled on land, but 6,000 gallons seeped into Des Plaines River water, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer William Mitchell said. He said the oil waste poses no risk to human health but could be dangerous to animals in the contaminated area.

The Coast Guard said barge and boat traffic along the river had been stopped.'>



Read more: http://nytimes.com/aponline/2009/02/08/us/AP-Oil-Spill.html

[Lint Head]

1. I think some folks are more concerned with the Grammys.

:dem:

[nc4bo]

2. And there will be no evidence of fish kills (or people kills) until the fish go belly up

and people get sickened from the contaminated water somehow getting into the system.

Naturally, nothing to see here - move along..

[bobbert]

4. I hope nobody eats anything that comes from that river

It's not the cleanest to begin with. Eventually it will get to lake michigan, but it should be cleaned up enough by then that nobody will notice it.

[JBear]

8. if I am not mistaken...

the Des Planes river flows out of Lake Michigan. Yes it is horribly polluted, but that does not make this any better.

:bounce:

[GinaMaria]

3. The Des Plaines River was pretty polluted to begin with

This is horrible.

[aquart]

5. How many people did Caterpiller just fire?

[acmavm]

6. "...and there is no evidence of a fish kill or harm to water fowl..."

I don't believe that for one minute.

I am sick of liars.

[Robbien]

7. Within minutes of the spill the EPA is saying don't worry there's no problem

But of course they will later say that environmental tests cannot be completed for several days or weeks.

The primary effort of the EPA at this time is to make sure all media is contacted and instructed to say "There's no problem here, move along.".

[Buzz Clik]

9. That's going to take some time to clean up.

Petroleum sludge can contain some nasty players (PAHs, heavy metals, etc) but normally at low levels. But, it's gooey and disgusting and will stick around for a long time.

[lunatica]

10. Yup. I believe not a single fish or fowl was hurt by this. Not one

Especially along such a short space. 3 miles. Why that's nothing! pshaw! Stop being such ninnies. It'll get cleaned up in no time. It's not like this will flow anywhere. This is the sticky, heavy stuff that sinks like a rock and clings for years. And don't anyone say this break could have been avoided with some cockamamie infrastructure maintenance. That would cost too much. Geez, any excuse to talk up the Stimulus, er, Spending bill.

:sarcasm: