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Frank Rizzo | Democrat
NEW YORK STATE Department of Environmental Conservation workers (DEC regulations prohibit them from talking to the media) set up booms to contain a gasoline spill on the Callicoon Creek in Hortonville. In the picture at left, white new booms contrast with a thoroughly saturated one laid down by the owner of Kountry Korner, which is across the street from the site.
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DEC Investigates Spill in Callicoon Creek
By Dan Hust
HORTONVILLE — December 22, 2006 — On Wednesday, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) brought in a contractor to clean up a gasoline spill in Hortonville.
Two workers spent the day distributing booms along the east branch of the Callicoon Creek, just downstream from the Delaware town barn along Route 17B.
“We suspect that it’s a problem with the gas station,” said DEC spokesperson Wendy Rosenbach, speaking of the Kountry Korner station right across 17B from the cleanup site.
Rosenbach said the owner of the station had already deployed oil-absorbent booms in the creek but had not taken responsibility for the spill.
Kountry Korner owner Rana Singh confirmed yesterday that the DEC was checking his tanks, but he and his petroleum consultant added that the DEC has not determined the source of the creek’s contamination.
Delaware Highway Superintendent Bill Eschenberg said it couldn’t be the nearby town barn, which only stores diesel fuel.
“We have no gas on our premises,” he explained.
A strong odor of gasoline has permeated the area since December 11, said Hortonville resident Franck Dumas, who lives about 800 feet from the creek and reported the matter to the DEC.
Dumas expressed concern about the health impacts of the odor, but Rosenbach said the state Health Department does not feel there is a health issue at this point.
Meanwhile, the DEC is investigating the source and extent of the spill.
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