Fuel oil spills into Schuylkill River

• Susan Phillips
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  Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

Environmental clean up crews continue to remediate the site of a 4200-gallon heating oil spill, some of which has contaminated the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. A strong hydro-carbon odor is present in the area of contamination, which appears as a reddish sheen of oil.
The City’s Office of Emergency Management says the leak resulted in between 200 to 250 gallons of home heating oil leaking into the river beginning Saturday night. The Philadelphia Water Department was alerted to the incident via Twitter and sent a crew over to investigate.
PWD spokesman John DiGiulio says the spill is downstream of the city’s water intakes, and poses no threat to drinking water supplies.
“PWD visited the site and investigated the report that night with a follow up visit Sunday and today,” said DiGiulio in an email.
The Department of Environmental Protection says 4200 gallons of fuel oil leaked from the building located at 2400 Market Street, traveling onto the CSX tracks, and the Schuylkill River Banks trail. It’s unclear whether the oil traveled on the ground, or through the sewer system. The heavy snow has made it difficult to determine where the bulk of the oil has accumulated. DEP says much of it may be trapped in the snow.
The EPA, U.S. Coast Guard, and DEP are working on a plan to absorb the oil from the water and ice. Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management says the building’s owner, Century Link, has hired an environmental remediation company to clean up the spill.
Mark Molven, a spokesperson for Century Link, says the investigation is ongoing, and would not provide additional comment.

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