C&G Newspapers - EPA Testing on Clinton River Oil Spill Deemed Inconclusive

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The Environmental Protection Agency wrapped up its testing of a small-scale hazardous material spill in the Clinton River that occured on June 1, yet officials are no closer to figuring out exactly what type of oil, or how, it got into the river.

Authorities were alerted of an apparently unhealthy sheen that covered a nearly 5-mile stretch of the Clinton River, from downtown Pontiac to the Oakland-Macomb County border, at approximately 3 p.m. June 1.

EPA on-scene coordinator Jeff Lippert said crews were called to the scene and performed air monitoring tests and deployed absorbent booms -- which float on top of the water and absorb hydrocarbons -- and collection booms -- which corral oil on top and allow clean water to flow through -- along the river, near Opdyke Road, in an attempt to remove the material and contain the spill.

The following day, the EPA worked with the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner's Office to investigate how the oil entered the waterway.

"The Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner's Office and our contractors polled every manhole cover leading into the Clinton River, in the area we were at, and we couldn't find any sheen or any kind of product. We also took a boat up and down the river and tried to find where it was coming from, but it was fruitless. We are at a loss," Lippert said.

The same day, the Oakland County Health Department issued a public health advisory -- which was later lifted June 5 -- urging recreation enthusiasts not to use the river until the EPA wrapped up its investigation and cleanup efforts.

By 5 p.m. June 3, Lippert said the sheen on the water was gone, an indication that the spill had stopped. On June 4, the EPA removed all booms, which Lippert said remained in the water for an additional day as a precaution.

EPA officials were hoping that the results of further, more in-depth testing -- which came back to the EPA on June 10 -- would reveal what type of oil was in the river and therefore might allow them to help determine a source.

"We got the sample results back, and the sheen was so thin that there unfortunately wasn't enough product for them to analyze," Lippert said. "... It was a petroleum product, but we are not going to be able to know what kind."

Initially, the EPA estimated that as many as 1,200 gallons of oil could have been deposited in the river, but Lippert said the actual number was less than 500 gallons. He said the spill was "relatively small" in comparison to others he's handled, and noted that the EPA did not see any wildlife affected by the spill.

U.S. Rep. Brenda L. Lawrence, D-Southfield, in a statement thanked local government officials in Pontiac and Oakland County -- including fire department officials and the EPA-- for a prompt response that ensured the spill was contained within 48 hours.

"Some people may quibble about the size of the spill, but any contamination of our water sources is a potential health threat to humans, as well as the environment and wildlife, and a matter that I take extremely seriously," Lawrence said in the statement.

Moving forward, Michele Arquette-Palermo, program director of the Clinton River Watershed Council -- a nonprofit environmental protection organization that oversees the Clinton River, its watershed and Lake St. Clair -- encouraged anyone who sees something in the river that they suspect could be an issue to call the Oakland County pollution hotline at (248) 858-0931.

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