WEIGH SCALES - State environmental officials will soon remove oil from collapsed home heating oil tanks at the former Duke Heating Oil grounds after small leaks were found in two other tanks Wednesday.
Dan Spadoni, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in Williamsport, said the leaks were discovered during an inspection of the silo-like tanks on Wednesday.
Seven tanks fell in the overnight hours of Sept. 8 after nearby Shamokin Creek and a feeder stream overflowed from four days of heavy rains from Tropical Storm Lee. The raging water eroded the foundation, lifted the mostly empty tanks and toppled them.
Northumberland County officials checked the area Sept. 8, saying none of the tanks were leaking, but they would continue to monitor the area. An odor of heating oil was noticeable in the area that day, a neighbor reported.
DEP rechecked the tanks last week as part of its flood response.
"We found that two of them had minor leaks and fuel oil was coming out," Spadoni said.
He said he didn't how much oil had spilled, but said the damage to the tanks had created only "minor, dripping-type leaks."
DEP took appropriate measures to contain the oil and contacted a company that handles the department's emergency cleanups. The leaking tanks were pumped late last week.
The remaining five tanks were found to be intact, Spadoni said. Crews are currently working on a plan for getting the oil, which he says is a small amount of product, pumped out of those containers.
Bankrupt company
It is not known if any of the cleanup costs or fines will be levied against Duke Heating Oil due to its financial difficulties.
"The company's bankrupt," Spadoni said.
The company filed for bankruptcy in October, soon after customers complained the company had failed to deliver oil to customers who had already paid for heating oil and to those who receive aid from the state's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
On Monday, U.S. District Court records showed the bankruptcy declaration was recently changed from Chapter 11, which would have allowed Duke to reorganize the business and pay its creditors over time, to Chapter 7, meaning that Duke's assets can be liquidated in order to pay its debt. The court reports that documents sent to Duke's post office box were returned on Aug. 10 marked "not deliverable as addressed." A meeting of the creditors is scheduled for Oct. 5 in Selinsgrove.