Oil spill in West Virginia creek probed
PINE GROVE, W.Va. – Environmental regulators are looking into an oil spill in a northern West Virginia creek.
Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Kelly Gillenwater tells media outlets heat transfer oil spilled from a MarkWest Energy’s Mobley natural gas processing plant in Wetzel County Saturday morning. The cause of the spill is under investigation.
MarkWest Energy said in a statement an undetermined amount of oil got into the North Fork of Fishing Creek and a water plant seven miles downstream in Pine Grove closed its intake and switched to an alternative source for water. The company it testing the water to determine when it will be safe to drink again.
Gillenwater said the facility holds 10,000 gallons. She said booms were deployed in the creek to contain the spill. She said there’s no evidence of aquatic life being harmed in the stream.
In Pine Grove, a community of 550 residents about 110 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, officials are asking residents to use water only to flush toilets.
Water bottles filled a parking lot at the Robert C. Byrd Center next to the creek, and Pine Grove Mayor Roy Justice said every home was supplied with at least one case of bottled water by Saturday night.
“Our primary priority is to make sure that our neighbors here in Pine Grove have fresh drinking water,” said MarkWest Energy spokesman Robert McHale.
MarkWest Energy splits natural gas into other fuels. It is among the biggest natural gas processors in the nation.