Plabell Rubber Products; Maumee River

Maumee River | 1986-Nov-17

Initial Notification: On August 22, 1986, U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office (MSO), Toledo, personnel discovered a large rainbow sheen flowing into the Maumee River from the Swan Creek entrance. Subsequent investigation showed the sheen to be originating from the creek bank approximately 1500 yards upstream adjacent to property owned by Plabell Rubber Products, Inc. The creek bank was found to be saturated with oil which was leaching into the creek. Fifty feet directly up the creek bank on Plabell property were fill pipes for two 1000 gallon underground storage tanks used by the company. The tanks contained a "chemically neutralized heavy napthenic distillate," product name CIRCO LIGHT RPO (Sun Refining and Marketing). Oil samples were taken from the tanks, water, and soil, and sent to the City of Toledo Environmental Services Agency and the Coast Guard Central Oil Identification Laboratory (COIL) in Groton, Connecticut, for analysis. The Coast Guard MSO, Toledo, also deployed a sorbent boom to contain the oil. Results of the COIL lab testing indicated that samples from the tanks and water were very similar, but contained differences that could not be attributed to weathering or contamination alone. The president of Plabell Rubber declined responsibility based on these differences between the tank and pollutant samples. On November 17, another large rainbow sheen was found on the Maumee emanating from Swan Creek. Plabell Rubber Products was again found to be the source, when a sorbent boom placed by the company was found to be ineffective. USCG district 9.