Officials cleaning oil spill at Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

GARFIELD COUNTY, Utah — Cleanup is underway at Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument after 160 barrels worth of crude oil spilled from a nearby facility nearly a month ago.

The oil was first discovered Sept. 12 by a hiker in Alvey Wash.

Citation Oil and Gas has a facility near the monument. It tells Deseret News more than 160 barrels worth of oil spilled due to a valve malfunction. Along with this, it said it shut the facility down once it was made aware of the spill.

However, it was too late. The company said rain and other water carried the spilled oil 17 miles to monument land.

The Division of Water Quality is now leading the investigation. The DWQ said it doesn’t think the oil got into the Escalante River, which connects to the Colorado River.

Citation Oil and Gas said its contracted workers are still trying to clean up the oil.

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