DAVENPORT, Fla. (WFLA) -
Polk County Sheriff's Office Agricultural Crimes detectives arrested a man for dumping around 10,000 gallons of used cooking oil in a vacant lot in Davenport.
Peter Rodriguez, 50, is facing charges in the largest spill ever found in Polk County.
Polk County Fire Rescue/Hazmat, ACT, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Hazmat Teams responded to the area of Sand Mine Road and Hwy 27 to assist deputies.
Walgreens and Duke Energy own the adjoining property where the "oil sludge" was found.
According to an arrest affidavit, deputies found a pump truck near the scene where the used oil was leaking from a drain spout.
Deputies determined the truck was owned by Brownies Septic and Plumbing and Rodriguez was the operator.
Rodriguez admitted to dumping the sludge, but said he had to do it to "keep his job."
Brownies Representatives told deputies they're not sure why Rodriguez dumped the oil, as the oil is picked up from various locations and disposed of at a business in Orlando, where it is refined and sold.
Rodriguez has been released from jail on two counts of commercial dumping on a $2,000 bond.
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Florida Man Spills 10,000 Pounds of Cooking Oil Causing Environmental Nightmare
By M Rafiq August 28, 2018
A 50 year old man was arrested on Tuesday after he confessed to the police that he was responsible for dumping over 10,000 pounds of used cooking oil in a vacant lot in Davenport, Florida.
(Newswire.net -- August 28, 2018) --A 50 year old man was arrested on Tuesday after he confessed to the police that he was responsible for dumping over 10,000 pounds of used cooking oil in a vacant lot in Davenport, Florida. The result was a huge mess that accumulated in the empty lot near Sand Mine Road and U.S. Highway 27. According to county authorities and ACT Environmental, the company which assisted with the cleanup, the spill was the largest ever recorded in Polk County.
Polk County Fire Rescue/Hazmat, ACT Environmental, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Hazmat Teams responded to the disaster. According to Polk County Sheriff, Grady Judd, Hazmat tested the sludge and determined it was not hazardous to the public.
Investigators traced the spill back to a pump truck that was discovered in close proximity to the scene. Agricultural Crimes detectives arrested the truck operator, Peter Rodriguez, charging him with two counts of commercial dumping.
Rodriguez admitted that he dumped the oil but explained that he was forced to do it, otherwise he claimed that he would have lost his job working for Brownies Septic and Plumbing. The company is, however, strongly denying this claim. Company representatives explained that the used cooking oil is regularly picked up and disposed of in Orlando, Florida where it is later sold and used for other purposes. As such, there was no reason for Rodriguez to dump it in the lot.
Rodriguez has been released from jail on a $2,000 bond.
Animal fats and vegetable oils are regulated under 40 CFR 112 as these oils can be highly detrimental to the environment in a very similar way as petroleum oils. Oil can coat, smother and kill animals and plants; form toxic byproducts; destroy food supplies, aquatic life, wildlife habitats and breeding grounds; emit putrid smells, be flammable and contaminate water supplies, among other devastating effects.
Additionally, when animal fats and oils inevitably drip into the pipes and sewage lines, huge plumbing problems can result. When the oil mixes with the sewage water it can contribute to giant blobs consisting of wastewater, leftover grease, debris, and chemicals and biological components that consolidate below ground in city sewers. The resulting congealed buildup, called a fatberg, continues to grow and can eventually result in a large scale failure of a city’s sewage system. The situation and the resulting damage is highly exacerbated when it includes large amounts of oil.
Metropolitan Engineering Consulting and Forensics stresses that it takes a qualified technician to find the source of the problem and correct it as hard to locate areas where drain stoppages can frequently occur are in the fixture trap, in the main drain, in the sharp bends and direction changes of the sub pipelines, and deep in the sewer line. According to a recent review of the subject, fatbergs are believed to be the cause of about 47% of the approximately 36,000 sewer overflows that occur annually in the U.S.
