KENTUCKY – Authorities say that Jim Beam will be fined 600,000 dollars for a fire that was a act of nature. According to Kentucky Law officials the fire started when a lighting strike hit the warehouse causing a total loss to the warehouse and 45,000 barrels of bourbon. The runoff of the incident set of a large contamination into the nearby river killing fish and other wildlife.
Jim Beam agreed to fine from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, and they will have to reimburse the state agency 112,000, The Courier-Journal reports.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has reported a substantial loss of fish and aquatic life due to this contamination.
“July 8″ our Fisheries crews finished gathering necessary information to begin calculating the estimated losses of fish and other aquatic life following last week’s bourbon warehouse fire and associated runoff into the Kentucky River in Woodford County. Data entry and analysis could take several weeks.
A plume of oxygen-depleted water several miles long killed fish and other aquatic life as it traveled downriver. Our crews conducted counts from July 5-8, and observed thousands of dead and distressed fish from Pool 3 near Frankfort downstream to the confluence with the Ohio River near Carrollton.
The affected water plume is expected to dissipate quickly as it moves from the Kentucky River into the much larger and faster moving Ohio River. Residents and other observers along the lower Kentucky River and Ohio River downstream of Carrollton may see dead fish, which should decompose and sink within a few days.”
