The National Response Center (NRC) received a call at 1039 CST on 02/08/2009 about an oil spill at the Caterpillar facility at 2200 Channahon Road, Rockdale, Illinois (near Joliet, IL). The Des Plaines River is located along the southern property boundary of the Caterpillar facility. USEPA OSC and their START contractor mobilized to the site and received the following details regarding the spill:
-at approximately 2400 hrs on 2/8/09, the alarm of the API oil/water separator sounded (the oil/water separator receives industrial oily waste water from the Caterpillar plant)
-the automatic shut off controls of the oil/water separator failed and the contents overflowed onto concrete area surrounding the separator and holding tanks
-security noticed the incident at 0745 and notified Caterpillar emergency personnel
-Rockland Fire Department and Will County HAZMAT arrived onsite
-Caterpillar emergency personnel notified local public works, USEPA, IEPA, USCG, Heritage (Caterpillar contractor)
-all notified personnel onsite to assess incident
-approximately 65,000 gallons of waste oil (~30% is oil and 70% water) was released from the API oil/water separator
-approximately 10% of the release is expected to have reached the Des Plaines River
