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Crews cleaning up fuel spill on Pittsburgh rivers Associated Press

PITTSBURGH  Coast Guard officials investigated whether a pleasure cruise company was responsible for a diesel spill on the Ohio and Monongahela rivers, and crews finished cleaning the slick Friday.

The leak appears to have begun near the confluence of the rivers near Point State Park, in Pittsburgh, and stretched for nearly five miles, Coast Guard Petty Officer Diego Benavides said.

It did leave a pretty substantial rainbow sheen, he said.

The spill did not pose any apparent health risk, said Betsy Mallison of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The Gateway Clipper Fleet, which hosts dance and dinner cruises on the rivers, was being investigated as the possible source of the spill, Benavides said.

Ron Shively, Gateway general manager, said he did not believe the company was responsible.

But he said it hired the Weavertown Environmental Group, of Canonsburg, to clean the spill so it would be cleaned as quickly as possible. The job was finished Friday afternoon, he said.

Somebody has to initiate the cleanup, he said. Without admitting responsibility, we wanted to do the right thing.

The company was waiting for Coast Guard to finish tests comparing the diesel that was spilled with the diesel used by the fleet, Shivley said.

The tests should be finished next week, he said.

Weavertown has indicated to us that it does not look like our diesel fuel, he said.

If another party is found to be responsible for the spill, Gateway will seek to have that party pay the bill for cleanup, Shivley said.

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-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 12, 2000