Officials say Cimarrón River spill ‘cleaned,’ but questions remain

On Dec. 27, a tanker truck operated by the Fronk Oil Co. carrying 1,100 gallons of diesel fuel lost control and careened into a popular fishing spot along the Cimarrón River near Eagle Nest. Four days later, authorities said the spill had been “cleaned up.”

Longtime local fisherman Doc Thompson, who lives near Cimarrón, wanted to see for himself. “I heard of the spill fairly quickly after it happened, and a couple days later, I was able to go look at the site,” he said.

On Dec. 31, Thompson hiked up along the spill site. He recognized the familiar winter conditions – water flows slowing to annual lows, the surface of the river covered in a thin veil of ice and the banks caked in solid frost. It’s a freeze that almost never lifts during this time of year due to the dense willow growth in the area, he said.

Less familiar were the cleanup crews camped along the roadway, then nearing the end of a dayslong emergency cleanup process. Thompson saw members of the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), D&H Petroleum and Environmental Services and a hazardous material cleanup team.

Thompson introduced himself to Stephen Connolly of the NMED.

“[Connolly] explained that – at that time – at least 500 gallons of fuel had spilled,” Thompson said, reflecting the most recent estimates from authorities. Additional contamination might have been caused by the naturally lower-volume spillage of operating fluids from the truck itself, Connolly also said.

Thompson guided himself around the site, spoke to other workers and snapped some shots of the river.

Much of the ice and snow in the contaminated area had been crushed, he said. The contaminated fluids pumped through tubes into a separate tanker truck. Absorbent booms had been placed along the banks about 100 to 150 yards farther downriver in an attempt to isolate and contain the spill.

“There’s a beaver dam at the end of the site,” Thompson said. “Extra booms were placed in that area.”

He observed dead fish along the immediate site of the spill, which dissipated as he walked farther downriver, where no diesel fuel was “visible to the eye.” Authorities, he said, were keeping a tally of dead wildlife.

About one-half of a mile downriver from the site, Thompson could see trout swimming in the deeper sections.

He believes that the very low flow of the river might be a “kind of silver lining,” as little oil seemed to have reached farther downriver.

“I’ve been here a long time, but I can’t recall anything like this happening in the past,” he said. “It’s disappointing. What I came up with is that it is going to have some impact; I just don’t know how much.”

Authorities aren’t saying much about the potential impact.

He said that team members on-site said, “Follow-up surveys and studies and other testing of the area will follow for several months.”

Thompson said, “I visited with the crew and was amazed and impressed by them. They seemed to be really working hard and really cared about getting everything as cleaned up as they possibly could.”

But what is the long-term impact of the spill? How much fuel, exactly, spilled into the Cimarrón River? And how effective was the cleanup process?

No official word has come from NMED. In a phone interview Jan. 3, a spokesperson said that New Mexico State Police would be fielding questions about the accident. The driver was cited for careless driving, but there was no immediate word as to whether the driver of the vehicle or Fronk Oil Co. would face any legal repercussions.

Fronk Oil has been in operation since 1947. In a phone interview on Dec. 31, co-owner Keith Fronk told The Taos News that he believes his driver simply lost control with icy road conditions. He explained that driver training is provided both “internally and externally” at the company. He also said the hazmat team was “able to contain all of the pollution, and we disposed of it in a proper disposal container.”

Fronk Oil serves New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. It primarily serves the areas of Red River, Ratón and Clovis in New Mexico and Trinidad, Colorado.