DEP: ‘Free-floating oil’ gone.
By: Melissa Hayes
MONROE Oil dumped into a stream leading to Manalapan Brook on Dec. 30 has been cleaned up, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said Wednesday.
All State Power Vac has been working around the clock, using booms made of a material that only absorbs oil to clean up the spill. DEP spokesman Fred Mumford said all of the "free-floating oil" has been cleaned up.
Mr. Mumford said now that the oil has been removed, soil testing and excavation work is taking place.
The cleanup began after an oil truck owned by K.W. Rastall Co. of North Brunswick tipped over on Spotswood Gravel Hill Road, spilling about 2,900 gallons of heating oil into the stream.
K.W. Rastall Co. was responsible for hiring and paying for All State Power Vac to conduct the cleanup. The driver, Paul Fatum, 25, was issued a summons for careless driving.
Although all of the free-floating oil has been collected, a boom remains in the brook to collect any oil that may still be in the stream, Mr. Mumford said.
Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton commended the Public Works and Fire departments for their assistance in containing the spill.
"I’d like to compliment our Public Works Department, George Reid and Jeff Pennock, who really helped contain what could have been a disastrous situation," he said at Monday’s Township Council meeting. "Their efforts were absolutely remarkable. I say thank you because it could have been an absolute disaster."
Mr. Hamilton said Mr. Reid, a general foreman, and Mr. Pennock, a foreman, were volunteer firemen on duty with the Department of Public Works when the spill took place.
Both men worked to help contain the spill.
"They knew how important it was because of their training to initiate the containment measures as quickly as possible," he said.

