Contaminants that were found last week in a small waterway that runs under Dunlap Road in Hillsboro have been cleaned up and the leak site has been released by the Ohio EPA, Highland County Emergency Management Agency Director Dave Bushelman said Friday.

He said the EPA released the site around 10 a.m. Tuesday after some soil had been removed from a property on Dunlap Road that is owned by Hartley Oil.

Bushelman said that according to the EPA, the substance that contaminated the waterway and soil was either diesel fuel or home heating oil.

There were several old fuel drums and tanks on the Hartley Oil site and the EPA suspects the contaminants leaked out of them, then worked their way into some tiling in the area and then into the waterway, Bushelman said.

He said Hartley Oil would have to pay for the cleanup.

A local resident first notified the EPA of the contaminants on Feb. 15, according to Bushelman. The Highland County EMA, Paint Creek Joint EMS/Fire District and Highland County Soil and Water Conservation District were on the scene by 3 p.m. the same day. They placed seven absorbent socks in the waterway then waited for the EPA to arrive.

Bushelman said the EPA remained on the scene until about midnight that first day, then was back on the scene around 8 a.m. the next day. They worked the rest of that Friday, then returned to the scene Monday before releasing the site Feb. 20.

The site of contamination leak was at one time the location of a gas station. Hartley Oil no longer stores fuel at the site, but does have three trucks that operate out of the location, Bushelman said.

Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or [email protected].