An estimated 5000 to 8000 gallons of fuel oil spilled into the Ohio River at a Duke Energy substation in New Richmond, about 20 miles southeast above Cincinnati in the state of Ohio. Authorities shut off water intake valves on both the Ohio and Kentucky sides of the waterway to protect supplies, and a 15-mile section of the river was closed for cleanup. 

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The afflicted stretch of water was also closed to all river traffic, both commercial and recreational, when the spill was reported on late Monday night.

Duke Energy spokeswoman Sally Thelen says the spill occurred during a fuel transfer and lasted 10 to 15 minutes before it was stopped. Local Coast Guard and environmental officials quickly arrived at the scene, determining the spill to be of medium-size, a classification for spills anywhere from 1000 to 10,000 gallons. Initial estimates had the spill at 10,000 gallons.

"We have mechanisms for overflow valves," Thelen told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "We are still investigating the exact cause, but what we do feel may have happened was one of the valves was opened which caused them to overflow." 

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said the oil plume is expected to be past the city's downtown district by 7 or 8 PM today. 

"The plume is roughly five miles in length and they believe that the head of the plume is probably close to Downtown," Cranley said at about 2 PM today. "We suspect that sometime late this evening, early in the morning, it will be completely beyond city boarders." 

Hampered by darkness, cleanup did not begin until dawn on Tuesday. By noon, 500 to 600 gallons of oil had been removed. 

The spill occurred weeks after the city of Toledo, in northern Ohio, was forced to shut down its intakes when toxins produced by an algal bloom in Lake Erie entered the municipal water systems. Officials ordered the 400,000 people of the city not to drink or wash in water from their taps for two days.

Environmental impacts of the Duke Energy spill are on-going. 

TagsOhio river, oil spill, Cincinnati, Duke Energy