Truck spills diesel at Prudhoe Bay

A tanker truck spilled nearly 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel onto a frozen pond and the tundra near a Prudhoe Bay oil drilling site over the weekend, state environmental officials said April 9.

The driver, who worked for Anchorage-based oil field service company VECO Corp., was the only person in the truck and was not injured, said Ed Meggert of the Department of Environmental Conservation.

The 15,000-square-foot spill occurred April 8 along a road on the east side of Prudhoe Bay.

The driver had lost a contact lens and was pulling over to the side of the road when he lost control of the truck in the softer gravel, Meggert said. The truck rolled onto its side, spilling more than half of its contents.

Diesel is one of the more toxic fuels and tends to seep easily into ground, Meggert said. However, the tundra is frozen solid and probably won’t soak up much fuel, he said, and the pond should be relatively easy to clean because it is frozen and the oil is sitting on top of the ice.

About 2,300 gallons of fuel had been recovered from the pond surface by April 9.

Daren Beaudo, a spokesman for Prudhoe Bay operator BP LLC, said all of Prudhoe Bay’s owners are responsible for bearing the costs of the cleanup effort. They include ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP, as well as several small companies.

Meggert said it was too early to know whether any company will be fined, and he didn’t how much the cleanup will cost.

—The Associated Press