Ten to 20 gallons of oil spilled onto the ground and another 230 gallons spilled inside the William R. Dickson Co-Generation Facility on Sunday, Jan. 16 when a tank was overfilled during a delivery by T.S. Trucking Co., according to the Safety Office. The spill apparently was caused by instrument failure.
The incident occurred shortly after 9:30pm. There were no injuries, environmental damage or service disruptions. The oil that flowed onto the ground congealed due to the cold temperatures and was quickly recovered by Clean Harbors, an environmental contractor. All appropriate action was taken to the satisfaction of the Cambridge Fire Department and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on January 26, 2000.