Duke Energy Reports Fuel, Oil Spill into Ohio River

Just after 11 p.m. Monday night, during a routine transfer of fuel oil at the W.C. Beckjord Station in New Richmond, Ohio, approximately 5,000 gallons of fuel were inadvertently discharged into the Ohio River. Duke Energy owns and operates the majority of the facility.

 The release was stopped by 11:30 p.m.

Local, state and environmental agencies, along with the Coast Guard were promptly notified. Northern Kentucky Water District and Greater Cincinnati Water Works also were notified to take appropriate action.

"We notified state and local authorities of the incident and have been working with them throughout the overnight hours," said Chuck Whitlock, Duke Energy president of Midwest Commercial Generation and vice president of gas operations. "We have cleanup crews on site that are identifying the appropriate actions that will be needed to remediate."

Duke Energy owns 100 percent of units 1 through 5 (units 1 through 4 have already been retired), and 37.5 percent of unit 6. Dayton Power & Light owns 50 percent of unit 6 and American Electric Power owns 12.5 percent. The station also has four combustion turbine generating units which burn #2 fuel oil. The combustion turbine generating units are primarily used for generating electric during periods of high demand or emergency situations.

The station is dispatched into PJM. Duke Energy Ohio anticipates it will retire all six coal-fired units by Jan. 1, 2015.

Source: press release