Diesel spilled into Tahoe Keys lagoon
By Kathryn Reed
Crews are working to clean up 4 gallons of diesel that spilled into a Tahoe Keys lagoon in South Lake Tahoe.
The state Office of Emergency Services was contacted May 25 at 4:01pm, and by 5:11pm the spill had been contained. The wind kept it in the lagoon and did not take it out to Lake Tahoe.
Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association workers immediately put out booms in the Spinnaker Lagoon, which is between White Sands and Beach drives.
Kirk Wooldridge, general manager of the TKPOA, did not return a phone call. El Dorado County Environmental Management also did not return a call.
Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board employees have been at the site and are working with TKPOA to mop up the mess.
Scott Ferguson with Lahontan told Lake Tahoe News, “We will be in to touch with Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association to get an update from them on what progress they made overnight or if any additional action is planned to get everything cleaned up, and to find out what was the cause.”
According to the OES report, it was TKPOA who made the initial call after someone notified the front office of the homeowners association about the spill.
It is not known who made the initial report, how the exact amount is known or who spilled the fuel.
This was the second spill at Tahoe Keys this spring. CleanHarbor, which was in South Lake Tahoe for multiple days cleaning up the April 11 slick, claimed 30 gallons of oil were skimmed off the surface then. The oil was found on a back channel near the professional buildings on Venice Drive. That investigation is ongoing.