Re: Nelson Star story “Lemon Creek fuel spill data released” August 21, 2013.
Reading the spill data article one would think that the environment and the people on the rivers are in the clear after last month’s jet fuel spill.
This past weekend I visited a home on Lemon Creek, the family of which remains displaced due to contamination of their well water. The smell of fuel still pervades the creekside air beside their house.
I was fortunate to meet some of the good people working on the cleanup effort of Lemon Creek. I was shown floating booms with absorbent pads, and followed with interest the descriptions of how they are overturning almost every rock in the riverbed to free up the black waxy globules trapped there. Alarmingly, this material floats for a short time but then inexorably sinks again. I was sobered by the difficulty of the task at hand, and the undeniable long term effects to this mountain creek.
It is upsetting, though not entirely surprising that this accident happened; as humans we screw up sometimes.
What is less forgivable is placating officials telling us the issue is over.
Joel McBurney
Nelson