A tanker truck crashed into a creek on Washington's Olympic Peninsula on Friday, spilling fuel into a tributary of a river where salmon runs were recently restored after a decades-long fight to remove its dams.
A spokesperson for Gov. Bob Ferguson's office said the petroleum spill in Indian Creek was the result of an accident on U.S. 101. It was not immediately clear what caused it.
The truck is capable of holding 6,000 gallons of diesel and 4,000 gallons of gasoline, although the exact amount that had entered the river was not known, according to the governor's office.
''The truck is actively leaking and crews are working to contain the spill,'' the governor's office statement Friday evening said.
Photos shared by the Washington State Department of Transportation on Facebook show the tanker truck upside down in the creek, while emergency vehicles surround the scene.
''This spill is nothing short of heartbreaking for local tribes and other Washingtonians who rely on clean, healthy rivers and streams for their food and livelihoods,'' Ferguson said in a statement.
He said he is closely monitoring the situation, including its effect on salmon, and plans to visit within the next few days.
Two dams on the Elwha River, which flows out of Olympic National Park into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, were removed more than a decade ago after a long fought battle by the the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Removing the dams, which were constructed in the early 1900s, opened about 70 miles (113 kilometers) of habitat for salmon and steelhead.
