On April 30, 2017, severe flooding devastated the North Fork River basin. In early December 2017, horseback riders in the Mark Twain National Forest discovered an orphaned 1000 gallon above-ground diesel fuel storage tank approximately 1.5 miles upstream of the highway CC Bridge along the Hammonds Mill trail (on U.S.D.A. Forest Service land). They reported this tank to the Forest Service and provided photos. The tank had reportedly washed down steam during the flood event. The tank appears to be intact, along with its contents, and not currently leaking. Because of the remote location, removal of the tank and pump out of its contents is problematic. The tank is owned by Stewart-Morrison Redi-Mix, West Plains, Missouri. The company reported that they had filled the tank a few days before the flood.
The EPA Region 7 On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) has opened the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to secure funding for the emergency removal of the tank (FPN: E18702-STEWART–MORRISON). The OSC has tasked the Emergency Response Removal Services (ERRS) contractor to conduct response actions including the safe removal of all tank contents, and extraction of the tank from the river bottoms site. These removal actions were completed on March 13, 2018.
