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Oil ‘overspilled’ from tank in Vienna, commissioner says
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
There were no leaks in the holding tanks or liner at the Kleese Development Associates injection-well facility in Vienna, but an “overspill” from a tank and the liner caused the release of 2,000 gallons of “light waste oil” into the environment, a Trumbull County commissioner says.
Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said the board of commissioners met with three state officials Tuesday – one from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, one from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and one from the Ohio Department of Health.
The commissioners have had many questions about what happened in late March, when the oil got into wetlands and streams on the east side of Sodom Hutchings Road across the street from the KDA site, but they have not had any luck getting answers.
On Tuesday, however, the ODNR official told them information previously provided by state Rep. Sean O’Brien of Bazetta, D-63rd, about the spill was incorrect.
The oil didn’t spill off site because of leaks in storage tanks or the liner beneath it; the oil spilled out of a tank and out of the liner, Cantalamessa said.
Cantalamessa said commissioners also received information about the radiation testing that was done in the cleanup areas, and it indicated that the radiation levels at the most-contaminated areas were “right at the normal level, nothing that poses any alarm.”
State officials said early on that the oil had been traced back to KDA through a “buried drain pipe.”
The officials told Cantalamessa the spill occurred a few days before state officials became aware it in early April, after calls from a neighbor whose pond had a sheen on it and a dead muskrat and turtle.
Cantalamessa said commissioners also wanted to know whether KDA was aware of the overspill before state officials found it, but they refused to answer that question, saying, “That’s part of an ongoing investigation. When we have the findings, we will let you know,” Cantalamessa said.
The investigation is focused on what happened just before the start of the investigation, Cantalamessa said.
Investigators served search warrants on at least two KDA sites April 28, but no one associated with the investigation has provided any details of what they were looking for or what was found.
ODNR spokesman Eric Heis has responded to Vindicator requests for information regarding the cause of the spill and specific questions about what role the tanks and liner played, but he has declined to answer them.