Friday, September 21, 2007
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Commissioners accepted a settlement from a trucking company to pay for cleanup costs from a March 29, 2006, fuel spill at the Interstate 680 interchange with the 711 connector on the city’s West Side.
The $12,250 payment from Wolf’s Run Transport, to be divided evenly between the Mahoning and Trumbull county Hazmat teams, will pay for cleanup work performed by those teams, Walter Duzzny, Mahoning County emergency management director, said Thursday.
The interchange ramp was closed for nine days for the cleanup after the tanker truck toppled, spilling 8,500 gallons of gasoline. The truck’s load originated at the Marathon-Ashland Terminal on Bears Den Road and was destined for the transport company’s headquarters in Irving, N.Y.
The city received a $50,000 settlement check in February from Wolf’s Run’s insurance company, Federated Mutual Insurance Co., to pay for police overtime and services rendered by the city fire, water, wastewater and street departments in connection with the spill, said Anthony J. Farris, deputy city law director.
The tanker spilled gasoline into the ground and sewer system, forcing evacuation of houses in the Randolph and Division street area and of Amedia Plaza and other downtown premises, said Fire Chief John O’Neill.
The tanker driver, a Versailles, N.Y., woman, pleaded no contest to failure to maintain reasonable control, was fined $25, and had to pay $64 in court costs and $60 for failing to appear for a pretrial hearing.