A spill at the BHT Resources facility in Bessemer has released an undisclosed volume of grease and animal fat material into Valley Creek, a Black Warrior River tributary.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke said it appears that spills occurred at two wastewater ponds in a wooded area near the facility.

“There’s yellowish, orange, brown fatty solids all over the ground that poured out of their wastewater ponds next to the creek, through the woods and into Valley Creek,” Brooke told AL.com.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management says it was notified Sunday about “a release of animal fat around and into Valley Creek,” according to ADEM External Affairs Chief Lynn Battle.

Battle said ADEM emergency response personnel have been on scene since Sunday and are overseeing cleanup operations. Battle said contractors hired by BHT have placed downstream of the spill and have “physically removed most of the material from Valley Creek.”

Calls to BHT Resources were not immediately returned on Thursday.

BHT Resources opened as the Birmingham Hide and Tallow company in 1900, collecting used cooking oil and grease to be recycled into animal feed or other products. The company has recognizable black grease collection bins located behind restaurants and other facilities throughout the Southeast.

According to the company web site, the Bessemer facility where the spill occurred is a rendering plant, which turns used fats and grease into animal feed, recycled cooking oil or other products.

The BHT facility is located in Bessemer, about 14 miles southwest of Birmingham.

Brooke, the Black Warrior Riverkeeper, said Valley Creek is the first large tributary of the Black Warrior, which is formed by the confluence of the Mulberry and Locust Forks.

The creek enters the main stem of the river in an area called Bankhead Lake, which forms boundary between Jefferson County and Tuscaloosa and Walker Counties.

Battle said that remediation of the wooded area where the spill happened will continue with ADEM’s oversight, and that the company was advised to install containment measures to prevent more waste material from entering the creek during rain storms expected over the next several days.

“ADEM has not observed any adverse effect on aquatic life,” Battle said. “The public is advised at this time to avoid contact with the area impacted by the release and to use judgement recreating downstream of the release.”