Nearly a month after a tanker truck crashed and spilled more than 9,000 gallons of fuel near Scottsburg, clean-up efforts have largely wrapped up.
Katherine Benenati of the Department of Environmental Quality says samples taken from the nearby Umpqua River and drinking water wells show no contamination. Gasoline and diesel fuel was detected earlier in groundwater, but levels have dropped since.
At its peak, 135 workers were on site during the clean-up. Benenati adds crews and contractors removed more than 33,000 tons of contaminated soil from the crash site.
“The contaminated soil was taken to Short Mountain landfill south of Eugene, and excavation wrapped up on November 2nd," says Benenati. "And then last week their work focused on refilling those areas, then also hydro-seeding the area.”
Water quality monitoring will continue on a bi-weekly basis. The tanker truck had 7500 gallons of gasoline and 2500 gallons of diesel when it crashed October 22nd. The driver had hit a cow on Highway 38 before going off the road.
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