Police officers, firefighters and environmental officials continue to deal with a large oil spill in Whitehall just weeks after an oil spill found its way into Quarry Trails Metro Park.
The Whitehall spill happened around 4 p.m. Tuesday at Vertex Energy, formerly Heartland Petroleum, at 4001 E. 5th Ave in Whitehall's jurisdiction. Columbus Division of Fire Lt. Nicholas Davis told WOSU the oil spilled as the company was filling a tanker rail car. Davis said the top of the tanker was open for ventilation and overflowed, spilling into a nearby embankment and into the Mason Run and Turkey Run creeks.
Davis estimates somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 gallons spilled into the creek. That's about how much a dumpster holds.
Davis said most of the spill was contained downstream and minimal impacts to wildlife or fish were observed.
Officials investigate Whitehall Turkey Run and Mason Run creek oil spills
Crews with waste management company Clean Harbors were still cleaning up the riverbed in different parts of Whitehall including near Robinwood Park just south of East Broad Street.
Two mallards and a duckling were wandering around the front yard of Retired Whitehall resident Robert Adams, caked in oil. Davis said the Ohio Division of Wildlife was notified about the ducks.
Adams said the smell of spilled oil grew last night until it reached the point that he couldn't be outside. He described the smell as a "10" out of 10 but said it dissipated by Wednesday morning to a "3."
"I was in the garage later and I felt the smell. Smelled like something burning like rubber and it kept getting stronger and stronger. And then all of a sudden fire trucks and everybody showed up out here. They was out here until like midnight last night," Adams said.
Across the street from Adams's home, the cleanup crews set up rubber floatation-type devices called waddles and absorbent pads to prevent the spill from going any further downstream.
Officials in Whitehall have issued several safety reminders, including telling area residents to stay out of water in the area. Columbus Division of Fire officials and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency are in charge of the scene.
Officials say people in the area should not use open flames near the water because kerosene is flammable. Officials said there is no need to contact 911. Columbus Hazmat teams and firefighters were at the scene.
The Ohio EPA told WOSU it is investigating the spill.
Davy King and Gmauryon Porter were walking their dog Riyah at Robinwood Park watching the cleanup crews.
King and Porter said he heard something was going in the area with cop cars and fire trucks but he was walking when he first noticed the smell and thought it was a car crash.
"It smelled like oil, but I came upon the scene and i was just smelling until I found out it was kerosene. Already knew I was gonna have to happen to walk down here and see what was going on and stuff like that," King said.
Porter said he isn't too worried about the oil spill but hopes it gets cleaned up soon.
"I feel like we pretty safe, hopefully, everything will go according to plan and, you know, we get this river fixed up and get the community back to how it needs to be," Porter said.
Quarry Trails Mother's Day motor oil spill still being cleaned up weeks later
The Whitehall spill comes less than a month after a separate oil spill occurred near Quarry Trails Metro Park in northwest Columbus. Crews were still at work Tuesday cleaning that spill at the base of the Millikin waterfall.
Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks Visitor Engagement Manager Jill Snyder told WOSU the spill occurred on Mother's Day on May 11. She said an opening manager noticed oil and very dark water at the base of the falls at 8 a.m. that morning and immediately notified officials with the Ohio EPA's spill hotline.
Metro Parks also put up waddles and deployed absorbent pads to contain the spill.
Snyder said the water is sourced north and west of the park and it drains into the Scioto River, a drinking water source for Columbus residents. Snyder said the oil was likely dumped into a storm sewer drain by someone with a 30-40 gallon oil drum of used car oil.
Snyder said the city of Columbus is handling the investigation into the Quarry Trails oil spill.
"(The city) basically followed the oil till they got to where they think it was poured into a storm drain in one, of the neighborhood. And so for now, they're not really sure who did that," Snyder said.
Snyder said she hopes no one did this on purpose, but the motive isn't known yet.
Snyder said oil is hard to clean from water, but Metro Parks feels it is pretty well clean by now.
Snyder said the Whitehall spill puts the Quarry Trails spill into perspective because Whitehall's was much larger. She said wildlife wasn't as effected because fish and animals like ducks were able to move to where the oil wasn't.
Environmental groups call for accountability for spills
Ohio Environmental Council Vice President of Programs Melanie Houston told WOSU whoever dumped the oil in both spills needs to be held accountable. She said spills like these pose a risk for human health and for the environment and every caution should be taken to prevent them from happening.
"We certainly would hope that there'd likely be fees and penalties, but also that they're responsible for paying those cleanup costs," Houston said.
Houston lives near Quarry Trails and often visits with her young children to play in the water or hike the trails there. She heard about that spill last week and also read about the Whitehall spill Wednesday.
Houston said the Ohio EPA has some investigative oversight and can do accountability through penalties and fines. She said there is also an environmental enforcement division at the in the Ohio Attorney General's office as well.
"We would advocate for you know both of those agencies to do their full investigations and make every attempt to find you know responsible parties. For both of these events," Houston said.
Houston said it will be a challenge to identify a culprit for the Quarry Trails spill.
Houston said large spills like this can cause large amounts of fish to die off, air and water quality concerns and other environmental and wildlife impacts.
"I would still you know residents in those areas just to take precautions and try to limit their exposure to the area, especially community members who are parents of young children, because children can be more susceptible to those pollutants with their developing brains," Houston said.
Snyder, with Metro Parks, said this was this is the first time something of this magnitude has happened in any Metro Park, but there has been evidence of chemical spills in the past. She called an oil spill a "unique and not an everyday occurrence."
"There was a time where the waterfalls ran black from dye that was being added to mulch," Snyder said. "We had a large, um, muscle freshwater muscle die-off in big Derby Creek a few years ago, and we never could figure out exactly what triggered that."
Snyder said she doesn't want to assume ill intent with the Quarry Trails spill and hopes it can be a learning opportunity. Snyder said she doesn't think many people know that liquid poured into storm sewer drains don't get filtered or cleaned out. It flows directly into streams and creeks.
"I like to assume that people just didn't know any better, but it also was a person that kind of did it on purpose," Snyder said. "I will give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they just didn't know."
Snyder and Houston said more should be done to educate the public to make sure oil isn't being dumped illegally into sewers and waterways.
"It's been eons since the Cuyahoga River caught on fire, and we've made great strides, but I think there's always more work to be done," Snyder said.
