February 28, 2009 in Business

Broken pipe spills oil into Clark Fork

Avista official expects no risk to wildlife

Becky Kramer Staff writer

Oil sheens were visible on parts of the Clark Fork River on Friday, a day after a pipe broke at the Noxon Rapids Dam, spilling about 1,250 gallons of transformer oil.

Emergency response officials were working with the dam’s operator, Avista Corp., to evaluate the situation and craft a cleanup plan. A helicopter flew over a 20-mile stretch of the lower Clark Fork River. Pockets of oil were spotted from the air, but no dead fish turned up.

The oil is “not the goopy, heavy stuff,” said Bruce Howard, Avista’s director of environmental affairs, but rather a highly refined mineral …

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