An unknown amount of heating oil spilled earlier this week from a tank at a house on Biser Street in Berkeley Springs into the surrounding soil and into Yellow Spring Run, which runs parallel to Route 9.
The house was acquired by the Department of Highways and was scheduled for demolition to make way for the US 522 bypass. The construction firm in charge is Trumbull Construction.
Daniel Watts of the West Virginia Department of Highways told Morgan County USA that “there is a belief that the spill was the result of an act of vandalism.”
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has been notified of the spill, Watts said.
Trumbull Corporation was awarded a $59.8 million contract in October 2020 to build the four-lane US 522 bypass around Berkeley Springs, from just south of Berkeley Springs to WV 9. The project includes three bridges, three intersections and a new interchange with WV 9.
Trumbull called in Miller Environmental to mitigate damage from the spill.
“Fuel did run out of the tank, onto the ground, and it did make it’s way into a stream,” Watts said. “I believe they have oil booms and other devices to filter out that fuel oil.”
Watts said he didn’t know how much heating oil spilled onto the ground and into the waterway.