Cleanup Begins On Tar-Like Spill In Logan County

The cleanup process got underway Tuesday morning after a tank sitting on TJ Campbell Construction Company's land sprung a leak and sent gallons of a tar-like sludge onto a neighbor's property.

Tuesday, June 18th 2013, 5:53 pm

By: News 9


The cleanup process got underway Tuesday morning after a tank sitting on TJ Campbell Construction Company's land sprung a leak and sent gallons of a tar-like sludge onto a neighbor's property.

6/15/2013 Related Story: Logan County Residents Concerned About Tar-Like Spill On Land

January Environmental, which is certified with the Department of Environmental Quality, brought in heavy equipment to remove the contaminated soil and take samples to find out what chemicals were in the sludge.

"We agreed to hire an outside environmental company to come in an assess the spill and figure out what it is and the best way to get it cleaned up," said Dave Seitsinger, who owns the affected property.

Seitsinger has about two dozen renters that live nearby on the property. He said there were still some fears about how the leak has impacted the land.

"It's going to be professionally tested. There is a concern about it getting into the ground water, floating to other places downstream," he said.

TJ Campbell Construction Company's CEO Tim Duit released this statement to News 9 about the spill:

"TJ Campbell Construction was informed of the oil spill Thursday at 11:30 am. TJ Campbell Construction made immediate attempts, beginning Thursday at 2 pm, to contact the neighboring property owner, Mr. Seitsinger, to contain and clean up the oil that was inadvertently drained onto his property. After being denied twice, we sent a letter to Mr. Seitsinger that went out Saturday morning requesting one last time to enter the premises in order to evaluate the drained oil and clean it up in the appropriate manner. Per TJ Campbell Construction's request Monday morning, the Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) went to the site to assess the situation. Mr. Seitsinger gave the DEQ, alongside third party January Environmental, were given permission Monday evening to enter his property and assess, contain and clean up the spill. In just a little over 24 hours, January Environmental has fully cleaned the property, disposing of the spill in a special container, which will be evaluated over the coming days to ensure the contents are taken off of the property and disposed of properly.

Our property was affected by the drained oil as well. We are working today to clean that up, but wanted to give our neighboring property precedence to ensure it was taken care of immediately. Our property cleanup is scheduled to be completed by the end of today.

TJ Campbell Construction is covering all costs associated with clean up. We realize this is a hardship for Mr. Seitsinger and we want this situation to be rectified in the least painful way possible."

Seitsinger explained that he did not want anyone on his property unless it was a certified chemical cleanup company. Once that was made clear to him, he said he granted them access. Seitsinger also said he hoped the company will take steps to prevent any additional spills, like this one, from happening again.

"I think we're on the right track and I just want to keep it going," he said.

According to the D.E.Q., the samples taken from the area of the cleanup will not be ready for a couple of days, so they do not know exactly what is in the substance that spilled.

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