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Wildlife Officials Say Recent Tanker Crash Killed Fish

by KREX News Room
by Meaghan Wallace

Story Created: Feb 1, 2013 at 12:15 PM MDT

Story Updated: Feb 1, 2013 at 5:22 PM MDT

GATEWAY, Colo. Wildlife officials say a recent tanker rollover that leaked petroleum into a Colorado waterway is now to blame for killing a large amount of fish.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists are investigating the fish mortality.

On Jan. 25, a tanker carrying 8,000 gallons of gasoline and fuel crashed on Highway 141 near Gateway.

The tanker rolled down into the West Creek and caught on fire.

Wildlife managers responded quickly to the scene to assess impacts on wildlife and did see and smell some petroleum downstream.

Since the accident, wildlife officials have found large amounts of dead fish in the creek including brown and rainbow trout, sculpin and crayfish.

Officials say a big concern is that this crash only happened about 10 miles away from the Dolores River.

"That is a concern if it does go into the Dolores River, then of course, you start looking into that as well. All of it is part of our investigation. We're looking at how far it went down, how far of a
stretch it was affected and will continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead," said Mike Porras, Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Aquatic biologists say a combination of the petroleum and the heat from the fire are what caused the severe stress - and ultimately death of the fish.

Wildlife officials said once they've fully cleaned up the area, they hope to restock the area with fish.

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T said on Friday, Feb 1 at 2:43 PM

I sure hope that the company and driver gets fined millions over this.

B said on Friday, Feb 1 at 3:01 PM

T: I hope you hit me in your car some day so I can sue you!

Floyd said on Friday, Feb 1 at 5:52 PM

T must be an environmentalist, never let an accident stop you from ripping the little guy.

Not Green said on Friday, Feb 1 at 6:33 PM

Floyd, lawsuits, or threats of lawsuits are the only thing environmentalists know how to do.

David said on Friday, Feb 1 at 7:25 PM

So what company was it?

Duh said on Friday, Feb 1 at 10:56 PM

Great idea, kill all the people, then there won't be trucks to go off the road and kill the fish.

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