Many agencies probe Nature’s Blend practices

By Ed Runyan

Problems the city has had with runoff from sludge piles are separate from Thursday’s raid.

WARREN — Agents from several agencies descended on the city of Warren’s Nature’s Blend fertilizer plant on South Main Street Thursday morning to gather information in a criminal investigation.

Mike Settles, a spokesman for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, said the investigation pertains to improper waste management practices at the facility but said he could not be more specific.

Settles said the U.S. and Ohio EPAs, Ohio Attorney General’s Office and Warren Police Department arrived at the facility at 10 a.m. with a search warrant issued by Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

He said the Ohio EPA met with Tom Angelo, Warren water pollution control director, on Monday regarding problems with piles of wastewater treatment sludge and other materials stored on the grounds, but those issues are separate from the criminal investigation.

Detective Jeff Hoolihan of the Warren Police Department, who was heading up the local part of the criminal investigation, could not be reached to comment on the investigation.

Settles said investigators remained at the site throughout the late afternoon.

He said the city is making satisfactory progress in cleaning up the sludge piles, which are a byproduct of treating wastewater and are an ingredient in Nature’s Blend.

Settles said the city is also working to address EPA concerns over yard waste and incinerator ash stored there, along with runoff of liquids from the sludge piles.

The runoff from the site is a concern because the area is not far from the Mahoning River, Settles said.

The EPA doesn’t believe runoff has damaged the river yet, but it could if the problem is not corrected, he said.

Union officials declined to be interviewed, but workers did not.