Diesel Spill

My above ground diesel tank was vandalized two nights ago. I have a 10ft x 10ft area soaked with diesel fuel. Adding to it is the ground is already saturated with water from the wet winter. We had a hard freeze last night that stayed in the twenties and today is only supposed to be in the mid 20’s, but it’s going to warm up next week.
Is there anything I can put on the spill to reduce or stop contamination of the ground water.
Thanks,
Dell

I think the EPA will help if you give them a call.
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html

Oil Dry will soak it up but then you have to despose of the oil dry.

When they dug out soil from underground tank leaks, they would spread it out to let the sun leach out the fuel.

If there is nothing around this tank I would be temped to let mother nature take care of it.

How many gallons we talking?

Gary

Chances are that your tank is rather small,not thousands of gallons.The EPA, if they are anything like the Ministry of The Enviroment here in Ontario, are the LAST People you want involved in this!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$$!
Throw some gravel over the spill and let it go.

Do not under any circumstances call the EPA. That could be the most costly thing you ever did. They will test the ground, you will be forced to dig all the contaminated soil out, put it in a haz-mat container and pay big bucks to dispose of it. Your best bet it to put a little oil dry down on it, or let mother nature take its course.
Jim

Diesel floats on water, so buy 3 or 4 bags of oil dry and spread it as deep as it will cover on the spill. in 3 days, rake it up and spread it again. Self help is the best solution in this situation. JimN

Others have given you the best advice there is oil dry and NO EPA.

Kinda a shame itsn't it? The government group that is supposed to help is the last folks you want to hear about this.

Pretty typical when it comes to govt. programs.

"We're from the government and we're here to help" Yeah, right!

Gene

Good advice you've gotten. And just to be clear, the ground's being saturated with water already is the best you could have. Otherwise the fuel would have already soakeed in deep. The oil dry will soak the diesel right off the top.
Wm

We had a fuel spill at work,and called EPA.Before they got there we cleaned it up with sta-dri and they were satisfied.They brought a container to put it in untill it could be transfered,Therr years later they showed up to haul the container away,THANK GOD SOMEONE DIDNT THROW IT AWAY.

ps You cant do wrong by doing right

jimmy

The EPA will send inspectors out to supervise the clean up and ensure it meets their requirements AFTER you pay for a haz mat certified $5,000 up operation. Experience talking here.

Someone will ask, how & why so many $. Here is how they did it. Dig a hole, sample edges & bottom. Dig wider/deeper, samples all around again. Repeat until lab says clear. Pay lab fees. Pay for excivation. Pay for certified disposal of all that dirt. Fill the hole with clean dirt. Could have saved cost of some dirt if i WOULD HAVE HAD AN OLD vw TO PUT IN THE HOLE FIRST!

If you can clear the area, have a bonfire on the 10 x 10 area. The diesel fuel will be gone when the fire is out.
Otherwise, cat litter may be cheaper that oil dry.
Above all, NO EPA!! unless you have extra money to get rid of. In that case, build your bonfire with dollar bills!

Before calling the EPA, make sure that your insurance will pay for the clean up. Normally they will dig the upper surface off, and put in barrells. Once it goes in the barrell, I believe that you may be responsible for it for the rest of its life. Like other stated, a hot fire might get you by. Used engine oil with a couple of drops of brake cleaner cost about $750 a barrell to get rid of.

Why are you and people like you, so damned paranoid that your ground water is going to be contaminated?

The answer is: The propaganda of the EPA and the green wackos.

Geezus..lighten up, your well isn"t going to poisoned.

I"d leave it alone and let Mother nature take care of it or light it off....as sane people did forever before the advent of the damnable EPA and it"s Goons.

The people of this country have been brainwashed just like those in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union....only the Government knows best and what they say is above question.

200 gallons of diesel spilled in a yard, down a hill and into a field. Over $1,500,000, yes. one million 500 thousand to clean it up.
Like other things, keep your mouth shut, but risk it catching up to you.........

Paul

Whoa, Whoa. How is the EPA going to get there share of your money unless you call them. But hey, them folks have to eat too! Most of the people that work for the EPA don't even know the difference between diesel and gasoline. They took a test and got the job. They have been told for so long that it is bad bad bad. The grass will be growing in a few years like nothing happened.

Thanks for all the helpful comments and suggestions.
I guess I should have made it more clear that the amount of spill was not all that much. Maybe 5 gallons. I imagine whoever did it tipped over a can or bucket or maybe they did it for kicks I don't know. But it covered the entire area under the tank. And because the ground is water saturated it made small puddles and looked like more than it was.
The is on the east side of the barn which puts it in the shade in the afternoon summer sun. So even if I moved the tank burn off is not possible.
I spent all day today laying oil dry and cheap kitty litter -which reading the label is both just clay pellets - in the area. Oil dry hear is 40#/$8.79 Kitty litter is 20#/$2.60
And you were correct in saying that the water soaked ground would prevent it from soaking in very fast. I dug down to see how deep it went and it wasn't more than 2-3 inches. So I dug up the whole area by hand about one spade deep and layed another 2 inches of kitty litter on that.
Tomorrow I will take the pkup back to the hill and load enough good old mother earth clay to bring it up to grade. Actually now that I think on it, I may leave a small pocket under the tank just in case it happens again.
I guess what made me mad about this whole thing and made me overreact some is that someone was messing around near my house at night. Actually my dog (inside) was razing hell the other night but there are so many deer around here I went back to sleep. Not only did I spend two days repairing their vandalizm but now I have to increase security measures and I just don't like that.
So thanks again for everyones good suggestions and comments.
Dell

My one experience with the EPA: We were having a contractor put in an underground grease trap/holding tank that we could pump out if we ever experienced any pollution at our marine servicing facility - i.e., trying to do the right thing.

Contractor dug up a barrel of something black. He called the EPA before he even told us he'd found something. Summary result: We spent $20,000 with a hazmat contractor over a 30-gal. barrel of roofing tar that someone buried forty years ago. The $20,000 was to be our forklift $.

More irony: We have never needed the grease trap.

It won't happen again........ I can promise you that.
mike

Mark, at the risk of sounding hostile, the EPA only exists because of people who have attitudes like yours, UNTIL IT HAPPENS TO THEM. It's no big deal and "how sane people handle it" until the water coming out of their faucet smells like the fuel island a truck stop. Then it's all about "THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW AGAINST THAT!" and the EPA is born.