Monongahela River oil spill Event

In January 1988, a four-million gallon oil storage tank owned by Ashland Oil Company, Inc., split apart and collapsed at an Ashland oil storage facility located in Floreffe, Pennsylvania, near the Monongahela River. The tank split while being filled to capacity for the first time after it had been dismantled and moved from an Ohio location and reassembled at the Floreffe facility. The split released diesel oil over the tank's containment dikes, across a parking lot on an adjacent property, and into an uncapped storm drain that emptied directly into the river. Within minutes the oil slick moved miles down river, washing over two dam locks and dispersing throughout the width and depth of the river. The oil was carried by the Monongahela River into the Ohio River, temporarily contaminating drinking water sources for an estimated one million people in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, contaminating river ecosystems and killing wildlife.

Am 2. Januar 1988 brach ein Dieselöltank mit einem Fassungsvermögen von 4 Millionen Gallonen der Ashland Oil Company in Floreffe/Pennsylvania auseinander. Der Unfall ereignete sich während der Befüllung des Tankes. 700.000 Gallonen Dieselöl gelangten in die Flüsse Monongahela und Ohio. Zeitweise war das Trinkwassereinzugsgebiet von etwa einer Millionen Menschen in Pennsylvania, West Virginia und Ohio durch den Vorfall verunreinigt. Infolge des Ölunfalls wurde die Ökosysteme der Flüsse verschmutzt sowie die Tier- und Pflanzenwelt nachhaltig zerstört.