CLEVELAND, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A Cleveland oil-recycling company appears to be responsible for a spill in the Cuyahoga River that caused the deaths of hundreds of gulls, officials say.
A report by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District called Sanimax Inc. "the likely source" of a series of spills, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported. However, the report said investigators had not been able to make a definitive match between oil found leaking into the river from the Sanimax facility and oil found on the gulls.
Scott Broski, head of Water Quality & Industrial Surveillance for the sewer district, said Monday that the location of the dead gulls and the timing of the spills suggest Sanimax was responsible. Investigators also learned every drain at Sanimax goes into a storm sewer with an outfall at the river.
"That shouldn't have been happening, and we need to find out why and when that connection was made," Broski said.
Members of a rowing club found dead birds June 26. The discovery of the die-off and the oil slick marred Cleveland's celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1969 fire on the Cuyahoga, intended to draw attention to the improvement in water quality.
