No penalties issued in Sept. 8 oil spill in Connoquenessing Creek
The owner of the industrial site in Butler known as the former Armco Steel Plant 2 has not been cited for spilling oil into Sullivan Run, which flows to the Connoquenessing Creek.
The hydraulic oil entered the waterways on Sept. 8, when residual oil in pipes beneath oil tanks at the site were pumped out accidentally and ran into a nearby storm drain at a site owned by Capital Environmental Risk Transfer Alliance, or CERTA, of Cincinnati. The storm drain leads directly into Sullivan Run.
The former Plant 2 was used as the stainless processing facility by Armco Steel and later AK Steel, which is now Cleveland-Cliffs.
Armco bought Plant 2 in 1999, and it was closed by AK Steel in 2004.
It is the site of the former Bantam Car Company, where the original Jeep was conceived and designed.
The site was purchased in 2021 by CERTA.
The company buys brownfields and rehabilitates the contaminated acreage into a site that can be developed.
Regarding the accidental release of a small amount of hydraulic oil into Sullivan Run and the Connoquenessing in September, the state Department of Environmental Protection sent CERTA a notice of violation after the event.
Sean Singer, water quality specialist supervisor for DEP’s Clean Water Program, mandated that CERTA, within 10 days, provide DEP in writing a timeline of events that led to the discharge of the oil into the waterways, as well as an estimate on the amount of fluid that was removed from the creek after the spill.
The letter also required CERTA to describe how the fluid was removed from the creek and where it was disposed of.
Tom Decker, spokesman for DEP’s northwestern district office in Meadville, said via email on Wednesday, April 19, that CERTA provided a written response to DEP describing remediation efforts taken.
“On Oct. 6, Oct. 26, Oct. 31 and Nov. 11, the department inspected Sullivan Run and Connoquenessing Creek and had observed that the sheens along Sullivan Run or Connoquenessing Creek had been remediated,” Decker said.
Regarding penalties, Decker said none have been assessed.
“The department continues to monitor this situation and is evaluating appropriate future enforcement actions,” Decker said.
A report by a DEP agent who responded to the site of the spill on Sept. 8 after being notified by the county hazardous materials team observed two Canada geese walking near Hicks Road in Penn Township.
The agent said the geese “appeared to be covered in an oily substance,” and that their feathers appeared clumped with a dark substance along their necks and white underbelly.
CERTA officials immediately hired Professional Enterprises of Karns City to place booms across the creek in various locations between the site of the spill and the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance canoe launch along Eckstein Road near its intersection with Reibold Road in Forward Township.
John Myers, owner of Professional Enterprises, had his workers place 10 booms across that stretch in the creek to soak up the oil.
Because of the oil-removal project, the Alliance canoe launches at Renfrew and Eckstein Road were closed until Nov. 1.
Myers said in September that DEP officials who inspected the creek and the remediation project were very pleased with the cleanup effort.
