STOCKTON, Calif. — An urgent environmental cleanup continued in Stockton Saturday, stretching nearly a mile long on the Smith Canal. The canal was hit with an oil and fuel spill, which officials believe was caused by illegal dumping.
"A dumped tank container of what appears to be used oils and possibly fuels was tipped over and spilled directly into the levee," said California Department of Fish and Wildlife Lieutenant Ryan Hanson. "The tank was a little under 400 gallons, and there's still some fuel and oil material in the tank, so we have likely a couple hundred gallons that were spilled into the canal."
Officials first discovered the dumped tank on Shimizu Drive just after noon Friday, after being called to the area due to a visible oil sheen.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife, local law enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard formed a unified command.
"This canal is tidally influenced. Luckily, it was going uphill or upstream when it was dumped, and it has a dead end up at Lake Yosemite," said Lieutenant Hanson. "We got the boom deployed before it could wash back down toward the San Joaquin River."
Fast work by first responders Friday evening narrowly avoided what could have been a disaster for the Delta if the spill had spread west. However, for canal neighbors like Deby Provost, it already is a disaster, and it's in their backyard—especially after spending countless hours in the past trying to clean the canal up.
"I never thought I would see anything like this," said Provost. "It's been much better... so much better. And to have this happen, it's just so uncalled for."
Now state and federal agencies are left to clean up the mess while searching for the person who carelessly caused it.
Officials say that so far, the spill hasn't impacted wildlife, but they are still monitoring and have wildlife care teams on standby just in case.
"Cleanup will definitely take several days at least," said Lieutenant Hanson. "We're getting help from the allied agencies and following up on any leads that come in."
The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors issued a statement Saturday afternoon saying they are aware of the spill and are in touch with state and federal teams handling it.
"It's bad enough that people put garbage on the levee. To have gallons—hundreds of gallons—of oil dumped, it's devastating," said Provost. "This is bad."
Watch more from ABC10: Crews working outside of Stockton to contain a gas leak and secure a ship from sinking
