Crews are working to contain about 300 to 500 gallons of hydraulic fluid that spilled into the Grand River in Lansing.
State Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Brad Wurfel said that Lansing's Board of Water and Light has installed three booms across the river to contain the spill.
Wurfel says the booms are inflated buoys with pads to absorb the fluid, which has left a sheen on the river's surface.
The spill started Sunday night, and authorities blame it on a gasket failure at the utility's Eckert Power Plant near downtown.
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency crisis manager is on the scene. The utility says it's following standard cleanup procedures following the spill.
Wurfel says it's too soon to assess the spill's effects on the environment.