Officials investigating Wednesday’s oil spill in Dartmouth
By Bianca Buono
bbuono@abc6.com
@BBuonoABC6
An accident in Dartmouth Wednesday afternoon caused an oil spill near the water. Officials contained the spill on the Padanaram Causeway but are now trying to figure out just how much oil made it into the harbor.
"Roughly at 11 o’clock this morning we got a call that an oil truck delivering diesel fuel to the equipment down here on the causeway ruptured a pipe,” said Bradford Ellis, the Dartmouth Fire chief.
The pipe ruptured when a Petro truck carrying 1,100 gallons of diesel fuel hit a ditch on the construction site dangerously close to the harbor.
"He caught his plumbing on a steel plate which bent, pulled and thus created a leak,” said Ellis.
Construction workers immediately evacuated the area while a Coast Guard crew deployed a containment boom to stop the oil from contaminating the harbor.
Officials say the majority of the spill stayed on land, but there is a sheen of oil on the surface of the water.
"We’ve got the DEP, we’ve got the Coast Guard down here and they’re all happy with what’s being done right now,” Ellis said.
Clean Harbors began their assessment of the area shortly after the spill was contained.
ABC6 news is told the water is considered safe.
© WLNE-TV 2017
