A non-hazardous chemical spill occurred in Florence last month.
Following concerns from the community expressed on social media, LINK nky contacted the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, who sent a statement confirming the spill.
Boone County Emergency Management notified the state’s emergency response team on Jan. 16 that a power transformer at the now-closed Eagle Manufacturing facility in Florence had released mineral oil into the nearby creek. The damage seems to have been caused by the cold weather that occurred early in January.
“The winter storm on Jan. 5, 2025, caused damage to the transformer and the subsequent release of approximately 3,400 gallons of transformer oil,” according to the cabinet’s statement. “The oil spread off the property and into an unnamed tributary of Bullock Pen Creek. The transformer’s placard indicated that the oil did not contain Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and samples were collected for confirmation.”
PCBs are synthetic chemicals linked to cancer. The cabinet goes on to state that the team and their contracted expert confirmed that the spill was not hazardous. “There was no impact to the local drinking water supply nor to the aquatic life of the stream,” according to the statement.
Cleanup was completed on Jan. 22.