Between 250 and 300 gallons of gasoline were released into surrounding soil before flowing into a storm drain and then being discharged into Longfellow Creek, which runs along the front nine of the Seattle, Wash. course. Twelve to fifteen dead fish were found downstream by investigators, but investigators had not yet confirmed that the fuel caused those deaths. Authorities were not yet saying publicly how the vandals were able to puncture the tank.
Crews were working on the night of January 17th to contain a gasoline spill after an act of vandalism resulted in the rupture of a fuel storage tank at West Seattle Golf Course in Seattle, Wash., KOMO of Seattle reported. And some of that oil made its way into the city’s Longfellow Creek.
Seattle Public Utilities tweeted that between 250 and 300 gallons of gas had been released during the incident at the golf course, but authorities had not publicly said yet how the vandals were able to puncture the tank, KOMO reported.
Ty Keltner, a spokesman for the Washington state Department of Ecology, which was helping in the clean-up effort, said the incident occurred sometime on the night of January 16th, but parks officials didn’t find out about it until around 6 a.m. Friday, KOMO reported.
West Seattle Golf Course is maintained by the City of Seattle and managed by Premier Golf Center LLC. The front nine of the course, which was designed by H. Chandler Egan, runs alongside Longfellow Creek.
Keltner said the fuel leaked into surrounding soil before flowing into a storm drain and then being discharged into the creek, KOMO reported.
Eric Autry, a senior environmental compliance inspector with Seattle Public Utilities, said during an initial survey of the property and surrounding area that 12 to 15 dead fish were located downstream. Both Autry and Keltner were not able to confirm if the fuel was the cause of those deaths, KOMO reported.
“When people are stealing stuff, they’re not taking into consideration the environmental damage that can come from stealing fuel,” Autry said.
Officials from the utility and state workers were able to recover about 70 gallons of the fuel, but were trying to collect up to 230 more gallons of spilled fuel, Keltner said.
By January 18th, Autry said a significant amount of fuel have been picked up by absorption booms, but he wasn’t able to say how many gallons of gasoline had been spilled into Longfellow Creek, KOMO reported.
“It’s better. There’s less,” Autry said in reference to how the cleanup process was going Saturday. “But it’s also harder [to clean up what remains], because there’s less to capture.”
Seattle Police said they were investigating the vandalism that led to the spilled fuel, KOMO reported.
KOMO’s video report on the incident and cleanup efforts can be viewed at https://komonews.com/news/local/vandalism-linked-to-release-of-up-to-300-gallons-of-fuel-at-west-seattle-golf-course
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