SALT LAKE CITY — A leaked pipeline caused oil to spill into a Salt Lake City creek Saturday, coating geese and ducks and closing a park, officials said.
An estimated 400 to 500 barrels of oil spewed into Red Butte Creek before crews capped the leak site. Nearly 50 gallons of crude oil per minute initially had spilled into the creek, according to Scott Freitag, a Salt Lake City Fire Department spokesman.
“Our real concern is keeping people safe, and keeping the oil from reaching the Great Salt Lake,” Frietag told the Deseret News.
Crews were using absorbent booms and creating dams to contain the spill, but officials said some oil had reached as far as the Jordan River, and oil flowed into a pond in the city’s Liberty Park.
Employees at the Veteran Affairs Hospital first noticed oil in the stream just before 7 a.m. Officials then traced the spill to the pipe near Red Butte Garden. Freitag said the pipeline was shut off about 7:45 a.m.
“Chevron is taking full responsibility for this pipeline leak,” Chevron spokesman Mark Sullivan told the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Associated Press
