On Aug. 28, 2006, lightning reportedly struck an above ground storage tank at an oil production facility along KY SR 2157 in Whitesville, Daviess Co., KY. The facility is owned and operated by Core Minerals Operating Co., Inc., Vincennes, IN. The location is on the Paulette Howard Lease at GPS coordinates N 37.7194, W 86.8611. The tank and the oil/water separator exploded and caught on fire, releasing approximately 180 barrels of crude oil stored at the time of the incident. Initial reports indicated that as much as 150 barrels of product entered a nearby ditch and surface water system. The ditch flows into an unnnamed tributary to the North Fork of Panther Creek, at a point approximately a mile downgradient of the production facility. Panther Creek discharges directly into the Green River, a navigable water of the United States. EPA OSC Ben Franco was dispatched (to assess the spill and oversee the oil removal action actions being taken by the responsible party (RP).
On Aug. 29, EPA OSC Art Smith relieved OSC Franco, and continued oversight of the RP's actions. On Aug. 31, EPA demobilized the scene, and the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection Environmental Response Team (KDEP ERT), assumed the lead agency role for compoletion of the oil spill response. Over 120 barrels of oil product was recovered by the RP's contractors.
