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News Release 194
VANDALISM BY SCRAP METAL THIEVES RESULTS IN PETROLEUM RELEASE TO ST. LOUIS COUNTY CREEK
Volume 36-194 |
Contact: Larry Archer |
(For immediate release) |
573-751-3807 |
JEFFERSON CITY, MO, APRIL 9, 2008 -- The theft of scrap metal from an abandoned home in south St. Louis County resulted in the release of an undetermined amount of home heating fuel to a neighborhood creek, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
The department's Environmental Emergency Response section was contacted Tuesday morning by a resident of south St. Louis County, who said he and his neighbors had noticed gasoline or oil in a creek behind their homes along Gravois Road. The man reported that many residents had smelled petroleum products the Monday night.
Units from the Mehlville Fire Department confirmed the presence of petroleum in the creek, and the Department of Natural Resources dispatched a state on-scene coordinator from the department's environmental emergency station in Eureka to the area to determine a possible source and the proper cleanup.
A search of the creek revealed an abandoned home approximately one mile upstream of where the contamination was first reported. The on-scene coordinator discovered a leaking 500-gallon fuel oil tank in the basement and contacted the owner. Vandals had broken into the home last week and severed the copper supply line to the furnace. Oil leaked out onto the basement floor and entered a floor drain that discharges into the creek.
The owner is removing the tank today and will maintain oil absorbent booms in the creek until the fuel is abated. The department will be working with the owner of the property on a plan to clean areas of the creek that were affected.
From July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007, petroleum products accounted for 43 percent of materials released during environmental emergencies.
The department's Environmental Emergency Response section is called to the scene of more than 300 emergencies each year, including fires, traffic accidents, leaking storage tanks and other incidents that could have a negative environmental impact. The department's 24-hour spill line receives more than 1,600 incident reports annually.
To report an environmental emergency, including fuel spills, please contact the spill line at
573-634-2436. For more information, contact the Department of Natural Resources at
800-361-4827 or 573-751-3443, or visit the department's Web page at www.dnr.mo.gov.
For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.
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