Lake Norman Has 2nd Oil Spill in 10 Days: Officials Seek Cause of Slick, Disagree on Who Should Do the Cleanup
By Kirsten Valle, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Jan. 14–MOORESVILLE — Sam “Rawhide” Newman was fishing for striped bass late Friday afternoon in a cove on Lake Norman when he noticed the slick: three acres of oil, 1 to 2 inches thick, on the water.
“It’s a hell of a problem,” said Newman, 69, a longtime fisherman who’s lived on Lake Norman for 25 years. “Oil and water and fish don’t go together.”
By Saturday morning, the petroleum-based slick, concentrated near Castles Gate Drive, had grown to about 5 acres, county officials said. They still aren’t sure what caused it or what effect it will have on fish and wildlife.
The spill is the second at Lake Norman in 10 days; a transformer used for hydroelectric power generation ruptured Jan. 3 at the southern end of the lake, dumping about 300 gallons of mineral oil into the water.
The latest spill likely occurred several days ago, spreading downstream with the wind and currents, said Paul Webster, Iredell County’s deputy emergency management coordinator.
It’s unclear who’s responsible for cleanup. Local authorities sometimes tackle smaller spills, which can happen when boats sink, Webster said.
“We haven’t had anything of this magnitude for quite a while,” he said. “This is bigger than we can handle. We don’t have the capability to clean this mess up.”
Webster said Duke Energy, which owns the lake, would handle cleanup. But Duke spokeswoman Mary Kathryn Green said the company does not own the water and that the cleanup would therefore fall to state environmental officials.
Authorities at the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Mooresville office could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Local officials aren’t sure what effect the oil slick will have on the lake, though Webster said there were “no obvious effects” early Saturday afternoon.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission was monitoring the area Saturday and plans to stay nearby to see how many fish are killed and handle other issues that might arise, he said.
Webster said the spill isn’t likely to damage the boats and docks nearby.
“I’m sure they’ll take them up out of the water and there will be an oil ring around them,” he said. “But other than that, it’s just the normal damage of having to clean it up.”
Authorities will continue to investigate the incident, Webster said. Whoever caused the spill could face fines.
Kirsten Valle: 704-358-6043
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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