Roughly a dozen agencies held a “spill drill” in north Eugene today to keep responding crews sharp for actual oil spill disasters in local waterways.
At Whiteley Landing along the Willamette River, workers stretch orange containment booms across the water, which float and corral spilled materials.
“If we can get a downstream containment system set-up in one to two hours ahead of a spill, then that’s what our plan is,” said Karl Morgenstern, EWEB’s Watershed Restoration Manager.
Each year the exercise is done in a different spot in the Eugene-Springfield area. Morgenstern says the Willamette River provides drinking water for places like Corvallis, Wilsonville, and Sherwood. And EWEB may also use it someday, in addition to the McKenzie.
“We’re just supporting the Hazmat team in trying out different locations on the Willamette since they have to respond to spills in this area.”
The last local spill was in 2018, when an estimated 100 gallons of hydraulic oil spilled from the International Paper facility in Springfield. The company was fined $20,000.
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