As reported last week in The Lazer a mysterious oil spill which occurred on Christmas Eve, new information has been revealed.
The leak occurred on Phil Pigmon’s property at 18 Fawn Court Street in Fallsburg, which has an oil well on it. The leak was partially contained by the spillage levy but due to the oil in this area having heavy sulfur in it caused it to leak into Buck Branch.
Local residents along with Lawrence Co. DES Chris Cox used nets and caught about 8 ducks and got them cleaned up and released.
The loud booms heard were actually two individuals who were spotted shooting ducks which were airborne, which is being investigated. Two individuals were spotted around the oil site and The Maddy Family Cemetery. Pigmon has filed a vandalism report with the Lawrence County sheriff’s office and this is under investigation.
Pigmon has been working with Cox and with EPA Director from Morehead, Philip Carter. The team has worked extremely hard getting this mess cleaned up. They worked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to get the spill contained. The clean up boom was removed Monday December 30th, 2019 and the waters are safe again, Cox said.
This act of vandalism has cost Pigmon around $30,000.00, not to mention everyone involved with the cleanup spending a big part of their Christmas holiday cleaning up a big mess.
Phil Pigmon grew up in this area with his grandparents Bill and Georgia Maddy. They have never had any issues with this well since it opened in 1964. “This unnecessary act angers me, but I’m very thankful that no one was injured,” Pigmon said. “I would like to see that other oil wells in the area have their valves securely locked to avoid mischief and vandalism which might affect the community in the future”
All the ducks have not been released as of yet. We are making sure any ingested oil has passed and the ducks are ready to be returned to the water.
Let’s not forget Evergreen AOS who actually did almost all of the oil cleanup. And did a bang up job in my opinion. Contained it fast and saved a lot of wildlife. This company deserves our thanks.
So many people….and companies…..helped with this without a thank you or recognition. All need to be appreciated! Thank you, AOS!
Kenny, you are truly blessed with Mckinnah and Angie! They also worked hard!
Don’t get you hopes up with the sheriffs office investigating. They won’t put time into it. They already don’t answer cdd sad lols or do reports like use to be done.