EPA investigating more than 100 discarded drums of unknown chemicals

Originally published at News5Cleveland.
EPA investigating more than 100 discarded drums containing unknown chemicals

According to News5Cleveland, inspectors from the Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA converged on a shuttered factory in Euclid Thursday morning to begin the painstaking process of assessing and testing more than 100 drums of chemicals. The chemicals inside the 55-gallon drums were apparently left behind by a former ink and protective coating manufacturer.

Dodging and tip-toeing around the overgrown weeds and spilled chemicals, inspectors surveyed the cache of metal drums behind the building in the 21000 block of St. Clair Avenue. The property is located in an industrial part of the city, adjacent to often-used railroad tracks.

A spokesman for the Ohio EPA emphasized that there is no immediate threat to public safety.

The agency’s priority is to stabilize the barrels to make sure they don’t leak. It is also important to determine if there are any potentially hazardous materials inside the barrels, the spokesman said. However, at this point it appears the barrels could possibly contain hazardous materials.

“We will continue to work with the property owners, the US EPA and environmental contractors to best stabilize the drums,” the spokesman said. “If the property owner allows us access, we are prepared to begin work immediately.”

According to state records, most of the barrels contain unknown chemicals that appear to have been on the property for more than a year. According to satellite imagery, it appears that the barrels were placed at the rear of the property between the spring and fall of 2016. At that time, the property was owned by a company called Technology Properties LLC.

For many years, a company called Ink Big Corp. operated at the facility. According to published reports, Ink Big was a manufacturer of inks used in printer cartridges. The business also delved into protective coatings. According to state records, some of the labels on the barrels and containers found at the property identified Ink Big as the owner.

It appears the hundreds of gallons of unknown chemicals were left behind by the owners of either Ink Big or Technology Properties.

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