OHIO EPA FINDS 125 DEAD DUCKS NEAR TITAN TIRE WASTE OIL SPILL SITE IN BRYAN, OHIO
January 19, 2015
Effort made to clean about 400 surviving birds
BRYAN,
OHIO — Authorities are working to assess the full scope of damage from
Saturday’s oil spill at Titan Tire after another 125 dead, oil-soaked birds
were found Thursday near the spill site.
Cleanup
is underway after a large oil spill in Williams County. It happened at Titan
Tire in Bryan.
John
Windau, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s wildlife
division, said the agency continues to work with volunteers and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to assess the total loss. Most of the dead birds found
Thursday were ducks, and they bring the total number of dead animals to 150, he
said.
The
Ohio DNR will consider filing charges once it believes it knows the full extent
of the damage, Mr. Windau said. Meanwhile, efforts to decontaminate about 400
surviving ducks continue, he said.
Volunteers
are working with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research Inc., of Newark, Del., to
wash off oil. Cleaning each bird takes about an hour, said Lisa Smith, the
group’s executive director.
The
spill was reported to the Bryan Fire Department Saturday morning by a local
waterfowl hunter, Dick Long.
Mr.
Long, a retired city of Bryan power-plant operator, told The Blade many ducks
were “just walking” in the vicinity of Prairie Creek, better known in Williams
County as Ditch 40. He said he noticed them acting strangely while he was
hunting about 7:50 a.m. He was able to grab one and noticed it was full of oil.
The
fire department and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency traced the spill
to Titan Tire’s factory on South Union Street. The company has not responded to
requests for interviews.
Dina
Pierce, Ohio EPA spokesman, said there was a problem with a valve on an
above-ground storage tank, releasing used lube oil into the creek. The Ohio EPA
is awaiting a company-hired consultant’s report, which will estimate the amount
of spilled oil. Much of it was never recovered because of heavy rain.
Water
treatment plant operators in Defiance, Napoleon, and other downstream
communities were notified as a precaution, but no problems were reported with
their drinking water. Ditch 40 flows into the Tiffin River, a Maumee River
tributary.