History
On August 10, 2008, a 20-inch diameter underground pipeline ruptured and discharged about 5,000 barrels of crude oil over a short period onto the surface and into a bottomland forest wetland complex. The wetland complex is situated in the floodplain of Elm Creek in rural southern Illinois. The response was immediate and the responsible party, Marathon, was able to contain the crude oil within a relatively small area of the wetland complex. It was necessary to construct dams and roads into the bottomlands to transport the heavy equipment that removed the oil from the surface water. The spill site was cleaned up under supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
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