A 3-mile stretch of the Nine Mile Creek near Kremlin in northern Oklahoma was contaminated when nearly 1,000 barrels of oil spilled from a drilling mud disposal site.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission indicated there is no timeline on how long it will take for the cleanup.
Nemaha Environmental, based in the Garfield County town of Kremlin is the operator where the spill occurred last weekend. As explained by the Corporation Commission, a dike surrounded an area where well cuttings and tank bottoms were located.
Nemaha Environmental is an operation that focuses its efforts on petroleum-based sludge. It uses mechanical separation processes and captures crude oil still present from tank bottoms, orphaned inventories, off-spec crude oil, pipeline and piggins.
Heavy rains last week apparently caused the mixture stored at the site to overflow the dike. While the exact cause is under investigation, the focus of the Corporation Commission is on the cleanup of the creek.
Cleanup is underway by Acme Environmental. The firm constructed a temporary dam and has 5 active barrel skimmers pulling oil from the low-water area.
(typical vac truck)
Five to 7 booms are also in place at all bridge crossings along with what are called vac trucks.
Workers are said to be cutting impacted vegetation and bagging it for removal.