WFMJ.com News weather sports for Youngstown-Warren OhioUPDATED: Oil spills into the Shenango River

UPDATED: Oil spills into the Shenango River

FARRELL, Pennsylvania - Clean-up work continues at an oil spill on the Shenango River.

The spill originated from the Duferco Corporation plant in Farrell, PA. Duferco says the oil was first detected in the river around 7:00 a.m. Wednesday and the problem was traced to a recently replacement pump at the plant.

A spokesperson for the Duferco Corporation, Michael Hrycyk, said the spill was the result of a mechanical failure.

 "We had a pump malfunction. We replaced and when the pump was replaced instead of the oil mixture being pumped into our normal recycling bin it was inadvertently pumped into our normal drainage which was then pumped directly into the Shenango River," Hrycyk said.

Containment booms are deployed across the river to catch the oil mixture and prevent it from moving downstream.

Duferco says the waste material contains only a small percentage of actual oil. 

"We estimate about 13-thousand gallons of material of which three to five percent is actual oil the rest is water," Hrycyk said.

An oil spill response team is using a large vacuum to suck up the material for disposal.

Other booms also were deployed down river at West Middlesex and Pulaski.

When 21 News checked the river at West Middlesex we did not see any signs of the mixture there and local residents were still fishing.

A command post is set up at Duferco with officials from local, state and federal agencies, including Environmental Protection and the Fish and Game Commission.

Hrycyk said they will continue to monitor the situation and will do everything they can to capture all the oil that moved into the river.

Frank Jannetti of the Mercer Department of Public Safety said state and federal agencies will remain on scene to evaluate any possible environmental impact. 

"We feel confident that we've stopped the flow of the producet and now we're working on removing it from the river," Jannetti said.

Officials from Durferco and environmental agencies will meet at around 8 a.m. Thursday to assess the damage.

So far no advisories have been issued from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.