14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this week, the Oak Glen Nature Preserve in the state of Ohio in the US got to bathe in about 240 barrels (approximately 10,000 gallons / 37,854 liters) of crude oil.
Media reports say that the oil spilled from an underground pipeline owned by Philadelphia-based Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P.
For the time being, it is unclear how and why the pipeline burst and spilled some of the crude oil flowing through it.
What's more, authorities and pipeline operators are still a tad fuzzy on the topic of when exactly the oil started working its way into the Oak Glen Nature Preserve.
However, it is assumed that the pipeline started leaking late last week, Eco Watch informs.
Information shared with the public says that the spill was discovered this past Monday, and that authorities were called at the scene immediately.
An inspection was carried out, and, early Tuesday morning, workers and specialists present at the scene announced that the spill had been contained.
Talking to the press, Heather Lauer, a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States, said that the crude oil had built up in a marshland area.
She further detailed that it covered a patch of land about the size of a football field, and that natural barriers appeared to be doing a good job keeping it from reaching the nearby Great Miami River.
Still, to avoid any complications that might arise should rain fall in the region, a containment structure is to be set in place as a precaution, RT tells us.
According to authorities in this part of the United States, there is no evidence to indicate that this spill has had a negative impact on local drinking water sources.
However, specialists with the Environmental Protection Agency are expected to collect and test local water samples, just to make sure that this is indeed the case.
Cleanup operations are now underway. It is estimated that, all in all, it will take about two weeks to rid the Oak Glen Nature Preserve of the oil that spilled from the Sunoco pipeline.
During the initial cleanup phase, workers are to use powerful vacuum cleaners and other large machinery to recover both crude oil and contaminated land.
The pipeline responsible for this incident runs 1,800 kilometers (about 1,118 miles) from Longview, Texas to Samaria, Michigan. Since 2006, it has been the subject of 39 incidents, and has spilled a total of 31,000 gallons (117,347 liters) of oil.