Kentucky biodiesel leak suffocates thousands of fish

Thousands of fish have been killed by 3,000 gallons of biodiesel that leaked into a river from a truck stop in Kentucky, US.

The diesel leaked into Little Eagle Creek near Sadieville in early to mid-November from a branch of the national Love’s Travel Stop chain of truck stops.

Jack Donovan, director of the Georgetown/Scott County Emergency Management Agency, told Lexington Herald Leader that the agency receive a notification of the leak on 18 November, but some locals said they had noticed the leak up to two week prior.

The cleanup of the leak, the exactly source of which has not bee determined, is in progress and will take a “long time”.

“[The truck stop personnel] have checked their pipes, their tanks and everything and can’t find a leak,” Donovan said.

The leak has been contained, he said, adding that between a quarter and half-mile of the creek has been affected.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Kentucky Department for Natural Resources are two state agencies have been involved with biodiesel leak.

The handling of the leak would eventually be turned over to Superfund, a division of the Environmental Protection Agency that is responsible for cleaning up contaminations.

About 2,000 fish were killed as a result of non-toxic biodiesel absorbing the creek’s oxygen, causing aquatic life to suffocate.

Ryan Welton, the external communications manager of Love's Travel Stops, said the leak has stopped and the company is still searching for the source of the leak.