By JAKE REMALY • GANNETT NEW JERSEY • August 7, 2009
HANOVER — Hundreds of dead fish were found floating in the Whippany River and washed up on its banks in the wake of a tanker truck accident that dumped at least 3,000 gallons of gasoline into the waterway.
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Local and state officials said Friday that the accident caused an "extensive fish kill," wiping out hundreds or thousands of shiners, minnows, sunnies and crawfish.
But Hanover health officer George Van Orden was pleased with the clarity of the water on Friday morning and encouraged by schools of carp he saw swimming in the river.
"It's going to take some time, maybe a year or so, for the populations to re-establish," he said, "but they will."
Gasoline evaporated quickly from the river in the warm, sunny weather and emergency responders got booms — inflatable tubes that absorb gasoline from the water — on the river right away.
"Because of the speed of cleanup and evaporation, we wouldn't expect long-term impacts on the river," said Lawrence Hajna, a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection spokesman. "In the short term, obviously, there was an extensive fish kill, which is unfortunate."
The accident involved a tanker truck that got lost trying to make a delivery to a Lukoil gas station in Morristown. It tipped over on Wednesday at 3:36 p.m. trying to make a left turn from Columbia Turnpike onto Whippany Road, in Morris Township, to head back toward Morristown.
Morris Township Police Officer Mark Osterhoudt said state police inspected the Mack Truck and found no mechanical problems that contributed to the tip-over.
"It appears to be an operator error," he said, adding that it has not yet been determined if speed was a factor.
The driver, a 28-year-old Ewing man, was charged with careless driving.
The DEP had its contractor, Environmental Products and Services of Linden, working on the cleanup until the trucking company, Lee Transport Systems, brought on its own contractor, HMHTTC Response Inc., to complete the cleanup.
Hajna said the DEP likely will bill the trucking company for the costs the agency incurred responding to the spill, which dumped some 7,000 gallons of gasoline in all. Cleanup expenses have not yet been calculated, Hajna said.
Van Orden, who began studying the Whippany River in 1985 when it was known as a sewer because of its offensive odor and large amounts of sludge, said the river is much cleaner now, with a healthy aquatic ecosystem. Wednesday's gasoline spill isn't expected to cause long-term problems.
"I feel that the worst is past and we're in recovery now," Van Orden said, noting that first responders did an excellent job mitigating the environmental effects of the spill.
Van Orden said that although petroleum floats on the water, there are components that can dissolve into the water. When those contaminants are picked up by the fish, they irritate their gills and can affect their nervous systems.
"As that (contamination) moves through, you're going to kill off a lot of fish," Van Orden said.
Whippany River Fuel Spill 
