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Cleanup continues after gas spill in Old Snowmass

Aspen Times Staff Report
Aspen, CO Colorado

OLD SNOWMASS ” State wildlife officials said Tuesday that ongoing monitoring shows no evidence that Snowmass Creek was contaminated by gasoline that spilled in an accident at the Old Snowmass Conoco early Monday morning.

Kendall Ross, an aquatic biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said her visual checks of the creek and nearby Roaring Fork River showed no signs of dead fish or petroleum residue on the water surface.

Nearly 1,600 gallons of premium unleaded gas spilled after a vehicle hit a gas pump and ruptured a pipe running from an underground storage tank to the pump. The accident occurred in early morning hours while the station was unattended. The driver fled without hitting the emergency shut-off valve at the station.



The incident is being investigated by the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.

Most of the gas flowed onto property owned by the Colorado Department of Transportation. The state agency and ECOS, a private environmental restoration firm, are conducting the cleanup. CDOT officials said Monday that the plan for Tuesday was to use a track hoe and other equipment to remove snow and dirt alongside Snowmass Creek and determine if the gas pooled there. No update on that work was immediately available from CDOT Tuesday.




Ross said she was told at the site that the state agency and private firm didn’t find the volume of gas they expected. “They’re still trying to figure out where the gas has gone,” she said.