Source: http://www.gazettetimes.com, August 28, 2017
By: Bennett Hall
With the initial cleanup completed, workers are preparing to remove contaminated soil from the site of an oil spill that dumped an undetermined amount of pollution into the Willamette River in downtown Corvallis last week.
Between 50 and 75 gallons of used motor oil was released Wednesday evening from a 300-gallon storage tank outside Horton’s German Auto Repair at 480 SW Fourth St. before a passer-by closed the shutoff valve and called for help.
The oil got into a storm drain that ends at the river below the foot of Washington Avenue. Some of the oil stayed inside the pipe, but at least 5-10 gallons was in the water on Thursday morning, when Corvallis officials called in a local disaster response company to contain the spill and start cleaning up the mess.

“Those pipes have been cleaned,” said Tom Hubbard, head of the city’s utilities division. “We verified their cleanliness through closed-circuit television (cameras).”
NWFF Environmental of Philomath put containment booms in the river below the storm drain outfall on Thursday along with absorbent material to soak up the oil floating on the surface. Some oil is believed to have soaked into the riverbank, and the company will begin removing the contaminated soil this week.

Hubbard said no estimate is yet available of the total price tag of the cleanup effort. He said the city will try to recover those costs from the person or persons responsible for causing the spill.
The leak does not appear to have been an accident. Instead, authorities believe someone deliberately opened the drain valve on the oil storage tank, a process that requires several steps to complete.
Lt. Dan Duncan, a spokesman for the Corvallis Police Department, said the culprit has yet to be identified. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the department’s nonemergency line at 541-766-6924.