GREER — A leaking oil tank discovered Friday afternoon apparently dumped about 200 to 250 gallons of crude oil into a nearby creek, but it was apparently contained before it reached the Mohican River. The spill occurred off Jericho Road not far from Greer.
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Jo Shrimplin, who with her husband owns the Shultz family farm on Jericho Road, said she noticed the oil about 3:30 p.m. Friday, She immediately called Ohio Cumberland Oil and Gas Co., “our local provider,” who sent someone to the scene immediately. She and the company representative traced the oil upstream until they found the oil coming from a storage tank. It was flowing into a drainage ditch and then into the nearby creek. She didn’t know if the creek has a name.
The oil was described as a dark orange or rust-colored sludge on the water’s surface. The tank is located on the James Landoll farm.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Mineral Resources and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency both sent representatives to the scene, along with the ODNR Division of Soil and Water and the Knox County Emergency Management Agency.
Will Ziegler, oil and gas well inspector with the Division of Mineral Resources, said the bottom apparently gave way on a 100-barrel oil storage tank that was thought to be about half full. A containment dike around the tank also failed, probably due to groundhog holes, Ziegler said.
Most of the oil was contained in the dike area, but 200 to 250 gallons may have made it to the stream.
An Ohio EPA spokesperson said about two to three miles of stream was affected.
