14 DAY TRIAL // A massive oil sludge spill took place on Sunday in a suburb near Chicago, when an open-air storage lake, filled with hydraulic and cutting oil and belonging to renown manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., overflew and spilled approximately 65,000 gallons of the stuff onto a nearby land. Though only 6,000 gallons managed to get off the area, they sipped into the Des Moines river, and contaminated over 3 kilometers of water. Circulation on the portion was closed, and authorities are now struggling to contain the situation.
William Mitchell, a Petty officer for the US Coast Guard, says that the spill is currently not dangerous for humans, but that the oil could potentially harm some of the wildlife in the region, if the animals come to the river to drink fresh water.
The officials have also announced that the closed portion of the watercourse is being contained with two floating barriers, which will make it easier for vacuum trucks to sip all the oil from the water. However, such a complicated action is due to take several days to complete, and even then there will still be oil remains in the Des Moines.
"Caterpillar has notified appropriate authorities about this overflow, and the company immediately began corrective action when the overflow was discovered. The company is coordinating efforts to contain and remediate this overflow," the Peoria-based Catterpillar Inc., which is a world-renown manufacturer of mining and construction machines, shares in a statement. The company will also "put in place management practices that minimize the potential for future occurrences."
At the moment, state and federal EPA teams are working alongside a clean-up team from Caterpillar and members of other environmental organization in order to ensure that the spill is contained and cleaned as fast as possible. Apparently, preliminary conclusions place the cause of the outpouring on a malfunctioning pump, which fueled and helped drain the ope-air lake, in which more than 40,000 gallons of oil sludge were kept, with minimal guard.