OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), along with multiple Ottawa County agencies are in the process of cleaning up after a small contained oil spill was reported in Georgetown Township.
According to the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office, the Ottawa County Parks Commission received a call from a concerned kayaker on April 10 that an undetermined amount of oil was on the water and on the shoreline of a lake in the Bend Open Area Space Park. Police ay the exact location was just west of the north end of 12th Avenue, north of Taylor Street.
Numerous agencies began to respond, including Ottawa County Emergency Management, Ottawa County Hazmat Team, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office and EGLE.
Due to significant flooding in that area, access to the impacted area was hard to reach. An operator and heavy equipment from a local gravel pit, boats from the Georgetown Twp. Fire Department and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) from the Sheriff's Office were used to survey the area.
As of Tuesday, that area of 12th Avenue remains closed.
Police say oil sheen on the water was seen on approximately 300 yards of lake shoreline. That is suspected to be the only area of impact at this time.
EGLE's Remediation and Redevelopment Division is in the process of securing clean-up contractors to begin work as soon as possible, as well as stopping any future release from occurring.
Ottawa County Parks is requesting that people stay away from and not recreate in the area until remediation has occurred.
For more information contact Incident Manager Dave Wierzbicki from EGLE at 517-420-2605, or Ottawa County Director of Emergency Management Lou Hunt at 616-738-4050.
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