Dead fish along the Wabash: cause for concern?
NOT the dead feesh in question...only a piece of art obtained from an internet search.....
WHITE CO.—Reports have been coming in over the weekend of a large fish die-off in the waters of the Wabash River as it borders White County, from south of Grayville all the way down to Carmi.
We traveled the area yesterday (Monday, 10.24.11) but didn’t see anything that looked like a dead fish. However, there have been so many reports of them since last Friday (10.21.11) that there’s no reason to doubt, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have gotten involved.
Here’s what the report from the Evansville paper says, but a comment below the article is particularly telling, case in point:
beenhere4years writes:
An oil leak in a pipeline to collection tanks started leaking slowly and has progressively gotten worse. May have started years ago, if so it will be years before it cleans itself up, unless a cleanup takes place. It could involve miles of land as these line are buried and the Illinois Basin is crisscrossed with them.
Or maybe not.
It has been weeks since the first report of dying fish. Can someone test the water please?
Of course, we don’t know if the water has been tested or not, because the EPA isn’t the most forthcoming agency on the planet, despite the duties with which they’re tasked. So, since we’re in writing week and we’ll probably get in touch with them later anyway, we’ll go on record with our thoughts ONLY on this matter, and let you all hash out what you individually believe is going on here….and we DON’T think it’s “oil,” because the fisherman and others on the river would have already reported or at least noted they observed that.
What we know to be the case is that several years ago (2006), with the Pattiki mine in the Maunie area, there was a breach of an underground water supply (an aquifer) that flooded certain portions of the mine. This supply was actually turbulent, and “ran” for months and months and months before information was leaked from the mine about the hardship it was causing there. As soon as we found out about it and began making calls, all info on it dried up (regular readers will recall that of all entities we deal with, Mines & Minerals, and coal mining in general, are among the most closed-off in existence and we can rarely learn anything factual from them at all, unless it’s long after the fact.) So we don’t know WHAT the status of this matter currently is.
However, if there was a breach somewhere, let’s consider: some of these area mines run RIGHT UNDER the Wabash. And if there’s a leak DOWN, there is an opening between UP and DOWN. Mines have the danger of gas pockets in them; that’s been a fact since time immemorial. And gas, being the nature it is, is always going to find the path of least resistance from whatever its location is all the way up to the surface. Sometimes it leaks slowly, sometimes fast. Sometimes it can travel through natural fissures in the soil and rock, and sometimes it can work its way through water. Whatever it moves through, its goal is to be released into the atmosphere.
And if it bubbles up through the water, its going to affect aquatic life, it’s as simple as that.
Of course, even if Mines & Minerals were called into this, we probably wouldn’t be so privileged as to find out, so we’re gonna have to settle for the pablum that the EPA and IDNR shovel us. The good thing about this possibility is that it seems to have stricken a very limited area of the waterway. The bad thing about it is that unless the ‘experts’ can come to some kind of solid conclusion (and whether it’s rectifiable), whatever killed the fish might actually be affecting US in some unknown way.
Let’s hope we don’t have a mass “human die-off” in that area any time soon.
Your input is appreciated.
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=10323
Posted by Jack Howser
on Oct 25 2011. Filed under Breaking, White.
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Those fish should be fairly hearty and strong after all of those years of multi-colored water flowing into the Wabash from the old Texaco refinery site in Lawrenceville. It would probably take quite a bit to kill them by now if the old saying “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” is true.
They claim this fish stuff is starting around the I-64 corridor perhaps even in Southern Wayne Co. This makes me question about what is coming out of the sewer station from the City of Fairfield. It would have probably started trouble a little farther north by about 5-6 miles but the thing dumps into the little wabash at some point regardless of what stream it takes to get there. Just a thought and it very well may be someone dumping something in the river somewhere along the countryside. Anyhow it has spoiled alot of good fishing until the problem can be found. I am not so sure I would want to eat from that river anymore than I wish to drink from it as the water is chemicalized before it gets here then more added to it to counteract the chemicals already in it. It’s a wonder fish aren’t turning up dead in more than just this stretch. As Dennis said must make em stronger.
I’m wondering if when they built the new bridge across the Wabash at Mt. Carmel, when they finished it, if they sprayed a chemical sealer on the concrete(I’m sure they did)that may have caused this? It could be smelled while crossing that bridge for a few days afterward. Along with the fact, they’ve finished removing the old bridge. I would think they would have to blast the old bridge’s concrete pillars under the water in order to remove them, unless they left them there. You can’t see them sticking up out of the water though. So, the blast may have caused it too. Hopefully, there won’t be any more reports of dead fish and they find out the cause of this.
More than likely if it was the new bridge it would have happened right when they did the construction. Whatever caused it has been a recent action or result of something caused by man or God. I don’t think the Bridge caused it. Another reason that makes me feel this way is the fact that the fish would be turning up dead all the way up to the source of the problem. If anyone can find the northern end of that location they are close to the source.
This has been recently that people have noticed the smell while crossing the bridge. As recently as last week. I understand what you’re saying, though. Have you heard any more reports of dead fish surfacing? I haven’t as of yet.
So they have been resealing the bridge already? Its not quite 2yrs old yet. Thats odd!
And, the hell of it is, is that there is no telling what all is contaminating all of our water everywhere! As Jack said, we just have to go by what the EPA and IDNR let out(well, what they don’t let out, I should say)and let us know. I even wonder about people who have or use well water nowadays for the reasons Jack mentioned with the underground coal mines & seepage through the rocks. Even if they use cisterns,(above or below ground)they have to be able to check for contaminates.
I would be more worried about what is leaking in a water well from a nearby oil field than I would be from what comes in from a coal mine. Coal is everywhere and much of the water in this area is unfit for drinking, be it a utility owned water source or a private well. Drink from a local pond that has live fish in it, if the fish don’t die you will probably be alright as well. A fish is super sensitive to any change in its climate, which is water. Meaning that if anything contaminates the water it will kill the fish and it would be advisable not to drink it. Of course some of us have neighbors that would put stuff in our pond to kill the fish just to be mean.
Not that they are resealing, just that people crossing the bridge last week spoke of the chemical smell while crossing it.
Probably the power plant in Gibson, IN. No telling what the smell was.
All of So. Il. and a few surrounding states sit on top of coal mines. It would amaze people where some of the sewer systems are dropped into..underground coal mines that have been closed for many years. Although they have been sealed off, the methane gases & stuff still seep through…
Thus killing tons of fish and other things that are in the water.
Follow this link and see if it may sound peculiar that it might also be a warning sign. Just wondering like everyone else.
http://www.tntmagazine.com/tnt-today/archive/2011/02/22/whale-deaths-linked-to-new-zealand-earthquake.aspx
…friggin’ flyin’ carp musta ate up all the food…lol
Having been out on that section of the river as recently as last year, I can tell you….I don’t think ANYTHING would kill that damn carp. I’ve never seen such huge fish in my life, and they just kinda float there below the surface with their upper fins poking out of the water, looking for all the world like a shark. We’d dip the paddle in and they’d barely move….nothing bothered them….we both thought we could just dip a net in and scoop one up, but as big as those suckers were, just trying to drag it in would’ve capsized the canoe. And they look like some kind of escapee from a movie about toxic sludge….they look like giant, mottled goldfish with oversized fins, but their coloring (or discoloration) looks like they’re diseased. Weird fish….idk if they’re involved in this fish kill or not, but the absence thereof wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
Not that I would suggest doing so at this time in this section of the river, but next time take a bigger boat and net them big slow movin fish. Some would probably feed you for three days.
Ha. I won’t go as far as to say “I wouldn’t eat that damn carp to save my life” because I might eat em ONLY to ‘save my life,’ but as for right now, there are much better fish in much cleaner areas to consume…& I understand carp are a bitch to clean.
I would to if it was a matter of starving or being fed. I doubt that is the case with either of us at this time though. I could stand to miss a meal or two.
O.F., I’ve tried that and several other ways to catch those things(hubby has too and he doesn’t like to fish)nothing works unless one jumps in your boat.
As soon as you throw some food in the water to lure em in they scatter. They come back…you try a dip net slowly into the water to get one, they submerged again. Same thing with a rod and reel. I don’t even know if shocking the water would kill those things!!! :o: (Not that I’m gonna try that, btw..just sayin) I do like to watch em jump though, as long as they don’t jump on me. 
Sweets,
Well you gotta be quicker than the fish.
Ya poor fishes starved to death. (Yes I know there isn’t a word spelled fishes).
…well Jack, the trick to makin’ those carp palllatitable is simple…fire up the grill, remove the head and tail, and place carp on a piece of 2×12 cedar or hickory plank that has been soaking overnight in bourbon…place fish over coals for about 8 minutes per pound (give or take) or until done…then remove from grill and eat the board
Well…that’s one way of getting more fiber in your diet!!
So are you gonna be around in a few weeks? We should all get together and do something musical at Chris’ dungeon in tha ‘burg….
Thats a little to much fiber for my liking. The bourbon sounds good though, leave out the board and the fish.
LOL…That’s how I always heard was the best way.
@Jack: yep, be in on the 19-25 primarily in the burg, but also rado and Benton. Let me know where and when…