APRIL 13, 2015
AUSTINTOWN TWP., OHIO
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says that the
operator of the Pilot Travel Center on State Route 46 is trying to locate the
source of a diesel fuel leak that has been seeping into waterways near the Mill
Creek MetroParks Bikeway.
It's traveling down the gravel bed that's alongside Pilot's
sanitary line.
Pilot Travel has contracted with ECS, Incorporated and
Environmental Restoration to remove the fuel from Sulfur Run which enters the
Meander Creek Reservoir, a drinking water source for the area.
Last Thursday, Austintown's fire department placed booms in
the creek and notified Pilot and the EPA.
Austintown Assistant Fire Chief Bob Williams explains,
"They have a ditch down alongside the bike trail. It got into that and it
got down into the creek. We were able to stop it at the bridge. And we went a little
further to put the booms out just to be safe."
Williams tells 21 News that the Pilot Company has been very
responsible in handling the matter.
"We've been involved with their environmental people
out of Knoxville. He has actually been here on scene. He spent most of last
week here up until Monday."
Williams says a report from the environmental unit in the
state fire marshal's office so far finds no contamination in the area's
drinking water source.
"With the ground being frozen like that it could have
been a pocket of fuel in the ground and it's just surfacing now. With the hard
winter we had. It could have kept it in check."
Ohio's EPA says all of Pilot's underground fuel lines and
tanks were tested and no leaks were found.
However, the leak detection methods used cannot detect small leaks.
The agency also says Pilot will need to dig through the
concrete to find the source of the leak in order for it to be fixed.
Source: http://www.wfmj.com