Mystery Chemical Spill; Unalaska, Alaska

Unalaska, Alaska | 1996-May-11

Initial Notification: On May 13, 1996, approximately 1,000 fish fry at a hatchery on the Iluliuk River near Unalaska, Alaska were found dead. The community had held a cleanup day on the previous Saturday when a group of students and their teacher found an old, rusty, unmarked 55-gallon drum in the river 150 feet downstream from the fish hatchery. While trying to remove the drum, less than a gallon of its contents escaped into the river. The city hired Magone and Co, a local salvor, to remove the drum. The material in the drum was described as "green gooey stuff" and was coating about two square yards on the bottom of the river at 50 percent coverage. Samples of the material on the bottom of the river and from the drum were sent to Columbia Laboratories in Anchorage where the "green gooey stuff" was identified as old, lead-based paint. USCG district 17. Keyword: none.