Healy Lake spill much smaller than feared

FAIRBANKS (AP) -- A large diesel fuel spill feared in Healy Lake never materialized, state officials said Tuesday.

State inspectors say the village school's 10,000-gallon tank remains intact and the oil sheen and odor reported earlier this week came from a ''few gallons'' of fuel that spilled sometime in winter and spread at breakup.

Officials with the Department of Environmental Conservation said fewer than 25 gallons had spilled.

The scramble started on Monday afternoon, when a resident of the village of 47 about 30 miles east of Delta Junction noticed fuel on top of the ground. It was running downhill from the newly constructed school, through the village and toward the community drinking water well and lake.

Villagers used a backhoe and a bulldozer to construct a dike, and the suspected source -- the school's 10,000-gallon tank -- was turned off.

DEC officials made it to the site and checked the pressure in the tank's lines. A check of fuel levels showed nothing was amiss with the new tank or its double-walled pipes.

DEC investigators think someone probably sloshed some fuel on the ground while filling up a piece of equipment during the winter. That fuel stayed locked in the snow and spread once it melted.