At 1131 hrs, the EPA phone duty officer received NRC Report # 1213551 this morning regarding a release of 250 gal of #6 fuel oil from the boiler house of the Omni Mount Washington Hotel. The #6 oil is beneath the boiler house and his migrated to the adjacent wetlands and possibly impacted the Ammonoosuc River. The phone duty officer called the NH DES responder who was being sent to this incident and offered assistance. The NH DES responder called the EPA phone duty officer at 1830 this evening and requested EPA assistance. The NH DES responder believes these release may have been ongoing since the winter and that it is just now being observed due to the warmer weather. He believes that a significant amount of #6 oil (possibly more than 1000 gal) is in the ground beneath and surrounding the boiler house. He also mentioned that as much as 500 gal of #6 oil is in the wetlands and he is certain that oil has made it to the River. A cleanup contract has been hired and is searching for the source and trying to determine the amount of #6 oil released in the ground. Test pits, sorbent boom and pads have been placed around the boiler house in an attempt to find the leak.
