According to the United States Coast Guard, a diesel fuel spill at a fuel storage facility in the coastal village of Kwigillingok now poses a threat to the Kwigillingok River, which feeds into the Kuskokwim Bay.
Bernie Nowicki is an environmental program manager for Western Alaska with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), which is also responding to the spill.
“The leading edge [of the spill] is probably 150 feet from the water,” Nowicki said on Feb. 22. “I can tell you there are concerns that the spill is not cleaned up while the ground is still frozen. During the spring melt, the product will mobilize and could run off into the waterway.”
The U.S. Coast Guard has taken over the spill response because of its proximity to the Kwigillingok River, and is working with the state and the site owner, Kwik Inc. They’ve also brought in a spill response contractor, Resolve Marine.
In addition to the U.S. Coast Guard, ADEC, and Kwik Inc., Nowicki said that the response is being coordinated with the Native Village of Kwigillingok, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The diesel fuel spill happened some time overnight between Feb. 7 and Feb. 8 when a storage tank overflowed while being filled by a pump. Responders have raised the estimate of the amount of fuel spilled to over 8,800 gallons.
Nowicki said that analysis of the spill and cleanup efforts have been hampered by the more than 2 feet of snow that have fallen in the village since Valentine’s Day, as well as the lack of heavy equipment in Kwigillingok.
“The five-member recovery team, they're going the extra mile so far with collecting approximately 1,400 gallons of fuel oil in some extreme weather conditions out there,” Nowicki said. “It's all manual labor using hand tools for digging down in the snow and ice, creating a collection pocket for scooping out the fuel oil.”
Nowicki said that spill responders have been using absorbent material, small mechanical pumps, hand pumps, and a walk-behind skid-steer for most of the cleanup that’s happened so far.
“Additional mechanical is being mobilized from Anchorage to the Bethel staging area,” Nowicki added. “They have three follow-up cargo flights for delivery to the community. As of Feb. 20, operations brief only one cargo mission was completed. A lot of that is due to the flying weather. I believe there's still two more out there waiting to get out to the village with additional materials on board.
Nowicki also said that they’re looking to try to transport a mini excavator and other equipment from the nearby village of Kongiganak.
At this point, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service don’t believe that there is a pressing threat to wildlife or marine life from the spill.
Nowicki said that the spill cleanup could extend into early spring, but that the timeline isn’t set.
