Diesel Cleanup At Cheyenne Lake Continuing

A spokeswoman for the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities  [BOPU] says cleanup efforts at a Cheyenne Lake that was contaminated by a diesel fuel spill earlier this month are ongoing.

Dena Egenhoff says the biggest remaining problem at Lake Absarracca is removing soil that absorbed some of the diesel in the Aug. 11 accident in which a truck on Interstate 25, adjacent to the lake, spilled somewhere between 50 to 70 gallons of the fuel into the lake area.

City officials erected traffic barriers on the roadway leading to the lake and have been asking people to avoid the area. But Egenhoff says people have been by-passing the barriers and using the lake. She says people need to stay out of the area until remediation efforts are completed, adding there is no time frame for that at this point.

Game and Fish Department spokesman Renny Mackay has said Game and Fish Department biologists don't think there will be any significant die-off of fish in the lake, even though some of the diesel did go into the water.

The lake is a popular fishing area among local anglers.