Cleanup crews that specialize in environmental spills were on scene at Panther Valley School District all day Monday after officials discovered that a heating oil tank that previously dumped thousands of gallons of fuel again leaked over 4,000 gallons of fuel onto the property.

Mark Nalesnik, Carbon County Emergency Management coordinator, and Kevin Steber, Summit Hill Borough Municipal Emergency Management coordinator, as well as officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection were on-site overseeing the cleanup.Nalesnik said the county was notified of the spill just before 8 a.m. by George "Smokey" Kranjak Jr., school district maintenance supervisor, after he found the problem.Nalesnik said the spill originated from the same 10,000-gallon fuel tank at the middle school, which sits above the high school, that leaked 6,000 gallons onto the property in August 2007. Construction crews working to finish the new middle school punctured the oil line while driving pins into the ground for sidewalks.The fuel pooled on the back road between the middle school and high school, traveled under the high school in some areas and was again pooling near the baseball fields.Panther Valley Superintendent of Schools Dennis Kergick said this morning that it's unfortunate that something like this happened, especially since right now, the school isn't sure if it was the tank or the lines that experienced the problem.Panther Valley called Datom Products Inc. of Dunmore, a certified hazardous materials response team trained to handle spills and other environmental emergencies, to aid in the cleanup efforts. Datom was previously involved in cleanup efforts at the fuel spill at the school in 2007.Hazleton Oil and Environmental Inc. was also called in to aid in the cleanup, and a vacuum truck was brought in to empty the remaining fuel from the tank."Everything is being done in the interest of public safety," Steber said. "The proper agencies are on-site to be sure the situation is being taken care of appropriately.""We're not going to move forward until this is cleaned up," Kergick said. "Student safety is always the priority, but I don't anticipate too much of a delay (to the start of school) if any."Colleen Connolly, community relations coordinator for DEP, said it appears the double-walled tank, which is only seven years old, failed in some way, but echoed Kergick's thoughts, saying the exact reason for the spill has not been determined at this time.Crews were using previously drilled monitoring wells on the school property, which were dug in 2007, to gather some of the fuel.Nalesnik said there is no time frame as to how long the cleanup will take.Panther Valley School District will be responsible for costs incurred.