Someone has dumped drums of hazardous waste in the Buskin River State Park. That’s according to Preston Kroes, an Alaska State Park Ranger, who says they discovered two 55-gallon containers last month.
“Either sometime over the night on July 12 or early morning July 13, a couple of barrels were dumped along the Buskin river approximately 80 feet from the river,” says Kroes. “And they contained what originally we thought was just diesel fuel, and it turned out to be diesel salt water, more consistent what would have been from a vessel’s bilge.”
Kroes says some of the drums spilled and required cleanup. And there have been more tossed around the island.
“The ranger investigating it all had determined that around the Kodiak borough there had been an additional 18 other barrels kind of in the same timeline dumped, and we’re kind of going under the assumption that they were from the same subject that was doing all the dumping,” says Kroes.
He says there could be somewhere between 18 and 21 drums in total and that park rangers are not certain about the motivation behind the illegal disposal.
“We’re assuming it was just to save the cost from the dump fee. It could have just been that that’s what they thought they needed to be or that was their only option. We’re not sure.”
Kroes says that if you have any information, you should call 907-486-6339 and ask for Park Ranger Jennifer Culbertson or leave a message on her extension.
Kayla Deroches is a reporter at KMXT in Kodiak.
