Barberton mayor says city, agencies 'working hand in hand' to limit oil spill's impact

Last week, Noble Oil Services was transferring oil from a tanker truck to a rail car at a property on Snyder Avenue when it spilled the oil into a storm sewer that drains into the Tuscarawas River near the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail's Wolf Creek Trailhead in Barberton.

Since then, the Barberton Fire Department, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have been working to remediate the effects of the spill.

Ohio EPA representative Dina Pierce said the amount of oil spilled has not been determined.

"The reservoir that supplies Barberton's public drinking water is upstream from the spill and should not be impacted by this incident," Pierce said. "The public drinking water continues to be safe to drink."

Why wasn't the public informed sooner?

Barberton Mayor William Judge said the constant influx of new information in the days following the spill kept the city from issuing a release immediately after the incident.

"Information kept changing, and so we wanted to make sure that not only was the information timely, but it was as accurate as possible," Judge said. "We don't want to play into the fears that social media can rile up."

Judge took to social media Monday evening to reassure Barberton residents that their water is safe to drink, and that there is an ongoing investigation by the Ohio EPA into the spill.

Judge said Tuesday that no new information has come in since his Monday night address.

"We've all been working hand in hand on this," Judge said "and it's gone very, very well from that perspective. We're also looking at how do we address this to make sure it doesn't happen again." Once the Ohio EPA finishes its investigation, those details will be utilized to prevent a repeat incident, he said.

Have any downstream communities been affected by the spill?

The Ohio EPA did not immediately respond to inquiries about how the spill may have affected municipalities south of Barberton. ODNR said the question was better suited for the Ohio EPA.

Judge said the city had been in contact with several downstream communities. Based on the information he has received, he said, he has no reason to believe they have been adversely affected.

"I believe we contacted New Franklin, Clinton, may have gone all the way down to Massillon," Judge said.

Are the mitigation efforts working?

"The last (simplex) boom is at Center Road, and there was no oil found at that boom, so it's been contained between Vanderhoof (Road) and Snyder Avenue," said Judge.

At least one person has spotted oily water making its way past the first set of booms near the spill's origin, but Pierce said this is common, and steps are being taken to ensure that the cleanup is thorough.

"The environmental contractor is capturing the material with vacuum (suction) equipment to be hauled off-site and disposed of at a facility authorized to accept waste oil," Pierce said.

Stephanie O'Grady with ODNR said wildlife officers are conducting surveys and patrols in the affected area to determine if wildlife is still being affected.

So far, they've found birds covered in oil, rescuing several.

"[A]s long as the cleanup and remediation continue, we should see a decrease in the number wildlife impacted going forward," O'Grady explained in an email.

How long will the cleanup take, and what are the consequences for Noble?

"It typically takes several days to flush, contain and capture the material, but we cannot speculate how long it will take to completely clean up the spill," Pierce said.

She said the party responsible is charged for the cost of the remediation, so Noble Oil Services will be held accountable. A Noble official said he was at the scene Tuesday and was not immediately available to discuss the company's involvement in the spill response.

"Currently the focus is on the cleanup," Pierce said. "Notices of violation and any other enforcement actions are generally determined at a later date."

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Barberton mayor says city working with agencies to limit spill's harm