02/24/1999
Officials wrestle over cleanup
By KENNETH CONSIDINE
TORRINGTON - Trout Unlimited will seek an injunction in Federal Court today to mandate that the banks of the Naugatuck River are washed clean of last Friday's oil spill. Trout Unlimited is a nonprofit cold-water fisheries conservation organization. Patrick Kearney, a member of the group, who also is the wetlands enforcement officer for the City of Torrington, said the group is seeking action to save that portion of the river that could potentially become the largest trout habitat facility east of the Mississippi.
Oil surrounding the banks of the Naugatuck River in Torrington threatens to endanger a year's class of fish in the area of the river in Torrington, from Migeon Avenue, to the Thomaston Dam.
The area impacted by last Friday's oil spill is the same area where the Army Corps of Engineers, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the City of Torrington and Trout Unlimited have planned to develop the largest trout habitat facility east of the Mississippi River. The plan calls for specific placement of large boulders and for digging out other areas to create deeper water so that the fish can survive in the winter.
``All the preparation of the shores will begin this spring. The boulder placement and the digging will begin in the fall at times of low water and low flow,'' said Kearney.
Of the near 2,000 gallons of No. 2 fuel oil which spilled into the west branch of the Naugatuck River Friday, approximately 1,300 gallons have been recovered as of Monday morning, according to DEP officials.
A meeting called Tuesday afternoon by Kearney was attended by State Representative Andrew Roraback, R-Goshen; city officials, DEP officials, as well as a representative of Environmental Services Inc., which was contracted to clean up the oil spill.
Prior to the meeting Kearney showed a video he had taken that showed the river running by without any apparent contamination. However, when Kearney stepped along the edge of the river bank, a trail of oil could be seen excreting from the bank into the river.
Questions were raised at the meeting as to how far the cleanup effort would go and what was the environmental impact on the river. Kearney said that he talked to Jonathan Ploski, the river steward for Trout Unlimited, and a preliminary report giving a risk assessment will be forthcoming shortly.
Kearney asked if washing down the banks would be the best course of action to clean up the oil which saturated into the banks.
``Historically we don't do that with light fuel oil,'' said Mark DeCaprio, assistant director of DEP's Oil and Chemical Spill Response Division.
``What about the largest trout habitat facility east of the Mississippi?'' asked Kearney.
``In a situation like this, we do rely on Mother Nature for help. We'll usually wait for a couple of good rainstorms to do some natural flushing,'' said Ben Yorke, supervisor for emergency response coordinators for the DEP.
A question directed at the DEP asked how long the residual oil would remain if it was left up to Mother Nature.
DeCaprio replied, ``If there are any problematic areas that you feel we need to address. ..''
DeCaprio was cut off by Yorke who said, ``The problem areas are the entire river.''
In order for anyone to discharge water into a stream, which would happen if the banks were to be rinsed, the DEP would need to follow a permit process which would include contacting the DEP Inland Wetlands Administrator as well as the DEP water bureau, said DeCaprio.
Kearney said, ``I hope the DEP is not going to use the permit process to stall us. That would be a very foolish thing to do. If it is left to Mother Nature, I'm afraid that the oil will saturate a little deeper each time it rains. Unfortunately the lighter nature of the oil brings into play an array of over 20 very harmful chemicals. They kill bacteria, insects, fish fry, the lower end of the food chain. Due to the chemical saturation, any fry existing on the river are now dead. That's indicative of No. 2 oil. I would have rather it had been the heavier crude oil.
``DEP likes the lighter oil because it's easier to clean up. It's almost self-cleaning in their eyes,'' said Kearney.
DEP Emergency Response Coordinator John Porter seemed somewhat nonplussed by some of the pointed questions directed at the DEP officials who were at the meeting.
Porter said, ``We're being viewed as the bad guys here. We do the best we can do wherever we are, including Torrington.''
Kearney said he will do what he has to do for the best of the river.
``After all, it is our river,'' said Kearney.
Ploski will be back on the river this morning, trying to evaluate the impact.
``The concern now is the amount of oil that has saturated into the banks. I spoke to a number of environmental companies who are experts in the field. Generally speaking, the consensus seems to be to let the oil leach out naturally. However with the heavy equipment which will be on the banks once the boulder project starts, it's probably best if we wash off the banks, while we can contain it and collect it. There are also some bio-remediation techniques available, where bacteria is added to the soil to consume the petroleum and also plantings can be used to absorb the residual oil,'' Ploski said.
``Once we examine the banks, if we determine that the saturation is extensive, we'll recommend that the contaminated soil be removed and replaced with clean soil,'' Ploski said.
``I would suggest keeping the booms in place and to keep monitoring for destroyed wildlife. Unfortunately any larval fish and eggs will be destroyed, which effectively kills a year's class of fish,'' Ploski said.
