Diesel fuel spill in Sterling Heights leaks up to 80 gallons into storm system, officials say

A semitractor-trailer lost its fuel in a parking lot in Sterling Heights after someone attempting to steal the rig Sunday night struck a concrete abutment, county officials said Monday.

Up to 80 gallons of diesel fuel may have seeped into the storm drain system, officials said.

The fuel spilled in the parking lot of an industrial building on 15 Mile Road, west of Van Dyke Avenue.

Fire crews blocked off a storm drain and used absorbent mats and other material to prevent most of the diesel fuel from reaching the Busch Drain, which flows south into the Big Beaver Creek, north of 14 Mile Road, officials said.

"We applaud the Sterling Heights Fire Department for their quick action," said Candice Miller, Macomb County Public Works commissioner. "Spills like this are very unfortunate and often are accidental. In this instance, it resulted when someone tried to steal the semi-truck Sunday night and struck a concrete abutment."

The Public Works Office, after being notified by the Sterling Heights sewer division about the fuel spill, contacted an environmental services contractor to help with hazardous materials containment, the release said.

Workers at Warren’s wastewater division placed an absorbent boom downstream across Big Beaver Creek at 14 Mile Road to avert the spread of the fuel that may reach that point, county officials said.

Miller said the county's actions demonstrated "how effective the emergency response can be when the multi-agency notification process is followed."

"When everyone leaps into action like we did today, we protect water quality downstream — especially at Lake St. Clair — by containment and sopping up spills," she said.

News of the diesel fuel spill comes nearly three weeks after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency workers on Feb. 8 worked to clean up a spill in Bear Creek in Warren after a pollutant linked to a water line break at a nearby electroplating shop turned the body of water bright blue-green color.

Metals and PFAS compounds were spilled from the unoccupied Warren industrial building downstream, but posed no immediate risk to human health or drinking water supplies, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said. Elevated levels of copper, however, could damage aquatic life.

jaimery@detroitnews.com