# Thousand gallons of oil-based material spilled into Flint River 6-15-2022



## detroitjim (May 9, 2016)

Heads up downstream!

Officials for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said the spill,
estimated at several thousand gallons, was reported to a state hotline at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, June 15.
Hugh McDiarmid, an EGLE spokesman, said state environmental officials and local emergency responders are in the area of the spill -- *James P. Cole Boulevard and I-475* 















Thousands of gallons of oil-based material spilled into Flint River


City, Genesee County and state of Michigan agencies are responding to a significant oil spill in the Flint River.




www.mlive.com


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

I had seen this....it makes me sick! The Flint is a Great Smallmouth river! It breaks my heart! I'm soooo mad, why do they keep messing up this Smallmouth gem? This has to stop! Are they going to ruin every frickin river in this state? The number of spills and pollution in our rivers is ridiculous! Heartbroken... hopefully the damage doesn't get to far downstream. Please keep us informed


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Best smb river I have ever fished easily, some of the top fishing is in the city of flint and flushing. What a shame.


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## detroitjim (May 9, 2016)

Seeing reports that the effected area is already 5 to 10 miles downstream from *James P. Cole Boulevard and I-475* .

10 miles down river puts it almost to Flushing.

Authorities are naming Lockhart Chemical Co as the likely source of the spill.


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## Tommy O (Jun 18, 2008)

Damn! while this fortunately didn't hurt the Mott lake / Holloway portion, you guys are right, awesome river for both small mouth and spring walleye! I hope to heck people are held accountable!


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## Tommy O (Jun 18, 2008)

Did you see the list of elevated chemicals from when the company was cited 9 months ago? Holy crap! The folks in Flint just keep getting kicked in the teeth.


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Still fishing well, holy crap I got 15 smallies and a skinny little channel catfish in under two hours today, mid day. One smallie was like 5” rest were 13-18”. Fatties.


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)




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## detroitjim (May 9, 2016)

TroutFishingBear said:


> View attachment 842647



Thanks for the report. I presume you were angling in the effected area?
With luck, the clean up captured most of the spillage.

Tried to search for any recent news regarding the effect of the spill.
Couldn’t find anything.


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

I know they cancelled that Float party thing because of the spill coming up, is it still posted to stay out of the river? I'm ready to go fishing there! LOL. Nice report!


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

TroutFishingBear said:


> Still fishing well, holy crap I got 15 smallies and a skinny little channel catfish in under two hours today, mid day. One smallie was like 5” rest were 13-18”. Fatties.
> View attachment 842645
> 
> View attachment 842643
> ...


I've been hitting the Cass I got a nice 22" walleye yesterday on a spook topwater....that was crazy he Hammered it! And some nice 10-15 lb cats. The bass were small nothing over 3 lbs. I'm always hunting for the big ones! LOL.


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

eyes don’t hit top water often, freak fish man.


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## Crestliner 16 (Aug 28, 2019)

I live in Ohio and the Flint area is widely known and very depressing knowing that the pollution is terrible. We have streams that have some excellent Smallmouth and over the decades runoff from fertilizer and pesticides have ruined the fishing,along with the ecosystem. 
Here we are known for the only river that has caught fire, and more than once. Like Ohio and Michigan being big industrial states, more than just the ecosystem is being harmed.


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Crestliner 16 said:


> I live in Ohio and the Flint area is widely known and very depressing knowing that the pollution is terrible. We have streams that have some excellent Smallmouth and over the decades runoff from fertilizer and pesticides have ruined the fishing,along with the ecosystem.
> Here we are known for the only river that has caught fire, and more than once. Like Ohio and Michigan being big industrial states, more than just the ecosystem is being harmed.


Despite this spill the flint is a lot better than people think. Fish are doing great in there right now. It used to be dirtier and way more contaminated than it is now.

In fact, Ann Arbor is known for being so progressive and clean, yet due to
PFAS, they say not to eat a walleye from the Huron River in Ann Arbor due to pollution from these forever chemicals. Can keep and eat limits from the Flint River safely in most stretches.

reputation and name don’t always tell the true story. But I do agree with the spirit of your post.


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

TroutFishingBear said:


> eyes don’t hit top water often, freak fish man.


I thought it was a big bass. Twitched the Spook hard five times or so and stopped and letit sit for a second and Boom! Big time Slam! Fought hard from a minute and then just weight and a head shake or two.


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

They have to get the pollution problems sorted out in the Flint river, and maybe take out the rest of the capital street dam, make that concrete ditch though downtown more user friendly. It's a great river with a lot of potential. Clear water vs the Cass's murky water. I really like these two rivers.


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## Crestliner 16 (Aug 28, 2019)

I do think that the water quality has changed for the better. I remember when plants and factories released contaminated chemicals into the waters. In Southeastern Ohio we had a lot tile and pottery factories and some ceramic plants that let the chemicals run into the nearest streams, ironically just about all of these places where right next the streams. Some pretty nasty stuff is still there in the silt and muck. A lot of strip mining took place also. This exposed natural hazard like arsenic and other nasty stuff. There used to be some great fishing in these waters. One stream usually had some serious Northern Pike . But the Ceramic plant pollution ended up that. Across the road the stream was diverted into a catch basin for a new Brake manufacturer, not a very big place, and when the EPA investigated the catch basin excavation was going on to deepen it because they couldn't extend it, they found more natural deadly amounts of arsenic and asbestos. To this day it sits abandoned. 
There wasn't anyway to clean it up and the culprits declared bankruptcy. 
There's still hope, because I have seen the work that improved not only Lake Erie but a lot of other places that the steel mills polluted.


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

O.K.....i feel better now! That are still doing Okay! 7-25. We have to be better at protecting these waters!


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## fisheater (Nov 14, 2010)

@Whales you're fishing downstream of Flint, correct? I fish the stretch between Holloway and Mott. It’s been years since I’ve seen a toad smallmouth like that! However the walleye fishing has improved. What I really miss is the huge numbers of cats between 14” and 18” I used to catch. The walleye dinners take the sting out of that quite a bit!


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Cant kill them flint river smb, they are g’s. Had a two and a half pounder take me 50 yards upstream last time, same setup i catch 10 lbs steelhead and coho salmon with on the grand lol, couldn’t move him until he was done


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Whales said:


> View attachment 844847
> View attachment 844848
> O.K.....i feel better now! That are still doing Okay! 7-25. We have to be better at protecting these waters!


You would think after a decade of you and I posting that we’d see more folks, but nope deserted all the time…


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

TroutFishingBear said:


> You would think after a decade of you and I posting that we’d see more folks, but nope deserted all the time…


I talked with a few guys float fly fishing the lower Flint last weekend...still a nice river. The Huron river now has a problem... maybe I'll post it.


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

fisheater said:


> @Whales you're fishing downstream of Flint, correct? I fish the stretch between Holloway and Mott. It’s been years since I’ve seen a toad smallmouth like that! However the walleye fishing has improved. What I really miss is the huge numbers of cats between 14” and 18” I used to catch. The walleye dinners take the sting out of that quite a bit!


Oh yeah, Lower Flint south of the City, sometimes out of Genesee county! The Cass also, great rivers!


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

Epic...day out on the Flint... multiple 3-4lbers...plusall the others and 3 walleyes on a jerkbait. Dodging thunderstorms in the Kayak 9-20. Love that river!


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## detroitjim (May 9, 2016)

It’s been about two months since the incident. I've searched for news regarding the spill. 
According to the EPA most of the material was captured and removed shortly after it was discovered.
About two weeks after the spill June 27 the Genesee County’s chief medical health officer narrowed the scope of a public health order ,changing the restricted no-contact area of the river to from Stepping Stone Falls to Leith Street. That replaced an earlier order that closed the river throughout the county. 
Hopefully anything that wasn't captured was diluted and flushed though and won't pose any long term effects on the health of the river.

Some Dandy fish there Whales!!!


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

It's a great river, I don't eat the fish...we just visit each other once in awhile.... LOL. The Flint river has faced a lot of adversity over the years. If you go down it downstream of Flint you will be surprised how many tires are in the river on the bottom. The Wally's I caught look young, clean and healthy....good news for this Smallmouth gem of a river.


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## Whales (Sep 17, 2018)

Finally some is doing something


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