Spill impact minimal, no civil suit for New Design Construction
The cleanup of Boulder Creek is going smoothly, but New Design Construction may have a mess of its own on its hands.
The company spilled an estimated 8 to 10 gallons of diesel fuel into Boulder Creek Wednesday afternoon according to an estimate made by the construction company.
New Design has received a citation from CUPD for discharge into the Boulder storm water utility system. The company will appear in court sometime during the week after Thanksgiving. Alfonzo Nevarez, the foreman of the crew responsible for the spill, has also received a summons.
Despite the troubles now facing New Design, the university administration will not be pursuing any further civil action, CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said.
“Certainly we’re going to talk to them, find out what happened and what went wrong,” Hilliard said. “But as far as any other punishment, I don’t see that happening.”
Hilliard said he believes that it is the job of CUPD to make sure the company is held accountable.
“CUPD is a law enforcement entity, they’ll be dealing with the legal violations,” Hilliard said.
Douglas Short, director of Public Works for the city of Lafayette, said that there is very little danger of contamination from the spill. Boulder Creek supplies some water to Lafayette, but the intake downstream from the spill was shut off immediately after the spill occurred. He saw no evidence of contamination when he inspected the reservoir early Thursday morning.
“There was no contaminated water at all,” Short said.
Bret Linenfelser, Water Quality Coordinator for the city of Boulder added that there have been no warnings issued from the Boulder County Health Department.
Mark Salley, director of communications for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, added that the impact on the spill on wildlife in the creek should be minimal.
“It’s never good to have a diesel spill into a stream,” Salley said. “The good news is, Boulder creek is a good size creek, 8-10 gallons should dissipate quickly. I would not expect to see any visible negative consequences for fish or aquatic life, for a spill of that size.”
Contact Campus Press Reporter Rob Ryan at rryan@thecampuspress.com
