The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) was alerted on Dec. 3 to an oil spill that was dumping into Lake Carmel in the Town of Kent.

DEC Environmental Conservation Officer Craig Tompkins joined officers from the Town of Kent Police Department who had detected an odor of petroleum around the lake, the source of which was traced back to a discharge pipe close to the shoreline.

The Lake Carmel Fire Department was summoned and they traced the home-heating oil leak through the storm sewer system back to a home under renovation. The oil that poured into Lake Carmel was contained by the Putnam County Hazardous Material Response Team while DEC focused on spill cleanup.

Tri-State Environmental Services Inc. arrived later in the day to finish the cleanup and assess the impact to the drinking water sourced from the lake, of which no impact was discovered.

The unidentified homeowner told NYS DEC that he had personally removed two above-ground oil tanks a few days earlier and had disposed of them himself. The homeowner was ticketed for "failing to report a spill within two hours, as required by NYS Environmental Conservation Law and also for "Polluting the Waters of the State in Contravention of Standards."

The homeowner is scheduled to answer the tickets in the Town of Kent Justice Court in January of 2018.

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