Andy Crum, the golf club’s general manager, said that the cleanup was expected to be finished Thursday.
“The rumor mill kept telling us that a railroad car was buried on the property,” Thomas said. “They weren’t far off, (the tank) was almost big enough to be a railroad car.”
The tank measured 33 feet by 10 feet, with a capacity of 18,000 gallons. That was “not your typical home heating oil, but apparently Mr. Rentschler wanted to have plenty of heating oil available, so he installed that tank.”
One of the lines underneath the tank had broken off, and the remaining oil drained out of the tank. As of Tuesday, crews had cleaned up 1,200 gallons of product, said Thomas.
Cleaning crews performed a thermal treatment Thursday to ensure there was no contaminant left. The booms will stay in place for some time as a safeguard, the chief said.
According to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the leak resulted in only a minor fish kill. All costs of the cleanup were borne by the property owner, and there was no cost in township dollars beyond the normal pay for the on-duty crews, Thomas said.
“They’re going to put approximately 90 cubic feet of concrete in that tank to seal it permanently, so it won’t ever contain product again, or leech anything else out,” Thomas said.
Crum said the cleanup operations never disrupted operations at the golf course, beyond the oil smell that had permeated the property.
“It has done a bit of grass damage on our hillside, but fortunately, this isn’t wedding season for us,” he said.
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