Ohio EPA says human error led to oil spill in Mahoning River

WARREN

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says used motor oil leaked from an open valve on an 800-gallon tank at W.T.R. Services Inc., 2421 W. Market Street, Wednesday and traveled into the Mahoning River through a storm sewer.

The valve was left open because of human error, Amer said.

The oil was discovered on the river at around 9:30 a.m. Thursday by a resident on the 8th floor of the Buckeye Apartment Building on Tod Avenue Northwest. Authorities were notifed, triggering work by the Warren Fire Department, Warren Water Pollution Control Department, Trumbull County HazMat and others to control the spill with booms on the river.

Lindey Amer, OEPA spokesperson, said she doesn’t know how much oil was released, but the OEPA thinks most of it was contained by the booms. At about noon Thursday, a light amount of oil was still leaving a large storm-sewer pipe along Tod Avenue Northwest, across from Perkins Park, just west of downtown.