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Company leads efforts to clean up Shenango River spill
By jeanne starmack
farrell, pa.
Environmentalists hope to know more today about the environmental impact from 13,000 gallons of an oily mixture that was accidentally discharged into the Shenango River.
The mistake happened at Duferco Farrell Corp. The substance, 95 percent water and 5 percent oil, is a nonhazardous solution that’s used as a lubricant in the plant’s steel-coil processing, said Mike Hrycyk, Duferco’s vice president of human resources.
Duferco realized that the solution was being discharged into the river about 7 a.m. Wednesday and that had been the case for about seven hours, Hrycyk said.
He said the company immediately took steps to stop the discharge, clean up the river and contact federal, state and county agencies.
The oily mixture is easily visible on the water, he said, and it had made it to West Middlesex, Pa., by Wednesday afternoon.
He said the company is watching for signs of it in Pulaski, Pa., and may put a collection boom ahead of the Pulaski bridge on Pa. Route 208 if necessary.
There are already booms behind the plant on Roemer Boulevard in Farrell, about a mile downstream from Quaker Steak & Lube; one several hundred yards beyond that; and one at the Ohio Street bridge in Wheatland, Pa., he said.
He said workers were collecting the substance at the river with vacuum trucks.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is monitoring the river along with the state Department of Environmental Protection, he said.
Hrycyk said the accident happened after the failure of a pump that keeps the substance flowing through the processing unit and into a storage bin.
When they replaced the pump, he said, they inadvertently directed the substance to the plant’s general drainage system instead of into the storage bin.
Employees noticed the storage area wasn’t getting fuller Tuesday morning, and a check revealed the substance was going into the river, he said.
Hyrcyk said the company is working “around the clock” to clean up the spill. He said the company expects minimal environmental impact.
A representative from the DEP’s Meadville offices could not be reached.
Eric Levis of the Fish and Boat Commission said the commission had only preliminary information and should know more by today.