State officials say company failed to construct proper containment liner

November 14, 2015 at 5:28p.m.

VIENNA

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says Kleese Development Associates failed to construct a proper containment liner at its oil field waste facility on Sodom Hutchings Road.

“Liner integrity was compromised due to this construction issue,” ODNR spokesman Eric Heis said in a response to questions posed by The Vindicator.

The email said the company, known as KDA, submitted plans for a liner, and ODNR approved those plans. But new Ohio regulations have been put into effect that require ODNR officials to inspect sites “during each stage of the construction to ensure compliance with new standards.”

The battery of KDA oil field-waste tanks and their containment pad were about a year old at the time of a spill at the Sodom-Hutchings Road facility last March, according to a newly discovered document that provides many details regarding the spill and the criminal investigation into it.

The spill allowed between 2,000 and 8,000 gallons of a “light-end petroleum derivative called ‘drip gas’” to be released into a wetland and a tributary to Little Yankee Run just east of the KDA property, fouling the wetlands, streams and ponds and killing some wildlife.