HEBRON — Recovery of the remaining heating oil spilled at the Hebron Station School last winter has ceased, according to a spokeswoman form the Department of Environmental Protection.
“We’ve reached the point where the little remaining oil is not recoverable by sorbent materials. We’ve decided to allow the wetland area to continue its recovery on its own,” DEP spokeswoman Jessamine Logan said.
Logan said 1,011 of the 1,516 gallons of oil spilled has been recovered. Those figures are unlikely to change now that the sorbent work has ceased, she said.
Environmental officials have been on site since late December, recovering as much oil as possible that leaked the school’s tank room on Dec. 25, 2013. About 1,100 gallons seeped through discharged pipes into nearby wetlands off Station Road.
School officials closed the school for more than a week after the spill. The gymnasium, which is next to the oil tank room, was closed for two months while state environmental and school officials monitored the air quality.
The oil leaked out of the school basement tank as it was being filled by a driver from the C.N. Brown oil company of Paris. A total of 192 gallons was recovered initially from the wetlands next to the school by sorbent pads, but most was captured in ice and snow in an area about the size of a football field.
Although environmental officials were on site almost daily throughout the winter months, recovery of the oil in the wetlands could not start until the ground began to thaw in April.
At that time, a vacuum truck and sorbent pads were used to soak up as much oil as possible in the wetlands.
Logan said the DEP Response Service will continue to monitor the affected area weekly.
The sorbent boom and hay bale containment at the base of the wetland will remain in place to collect anything that could possibly escape. Logan said DEP officials consider that an extreme precautionary measure because no oil has moved in several months, even with periodic heavy rainstorms.
Logan said indoor and outside air samples, as well as drinking water samples, remain clean.
Staff and students are due back for the new school year in two weeks.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
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- The wetlands at Hebron Station School in Hebron show little evidence of the heating oil that spilled from school tank last December. DEP officials say the majority of the spilled oil has been recovered.
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