Looks like the oil company told the EM person somebody left a valve open and that caused the spill(wanna buy a bridge)?

Oklahoma: Disposal well leaks into creek near Sayre

02/15/2000 By The Associated Press

SAYRE -- A mixture of mud, salt water, oil and water leaked from a disposal well near Sayre over the weekend, running through a pasture and about two miles down a creek before it could be stopped.

Cleanup crews set up a series of dams along East Timber Creek and used vacuum trucks to clear away the contaminated material. The size of the leak was undetermined.

Jim Davis, manager of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission's district field office in Duncan, said the cleanup could take 10 days to two weeks to complete. He said Monday that some fish were killed in the creek. He said the contamination doesn't go the entire two miles. Davis said the water was fairly clear at the last berm set up on the creek.

Davis said contaminants were being taken to a disposal facility. He said once the low- flowing creek is cleaned up, they will try to flush it.

Billy Bankston, Beckham County Emergency Management director, said the leak occurred when a worker left open a valve on the workover rig.

Davis said the leak occurred sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning. It was discovered when crews arrived at the site about 6:30 a.m. Saturday. The mixture had overflowed a berm around the site.

The disposal well is operated by Odessa Oil Investments from the Odessa, Texas, area, a commission spokesman said.

Link:

http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/shart?ID=447743&TP=getarticle

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 16, 2000