HYDROCARBONS AND ENVIRONMENTALISM IN THE GREAT BLACK SWAMP: GIBSONBURG, OHIO
Kirsten E. Stricker
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
August 2019
Committee:
Michael Brooks, Advisor
Andrew Hershberger © 2019
Kirsten Stricker
All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT
Michael Brooks, Advisor
Oil was discovered in northwest Ohio in 1885. Men came from Pennsylvania and the oil boom was born. Towns appeared and disappeared overnight, and they were often known for a proliferation of saloons, houses of ill repute, and gambling. Derricks littered these towns and posed safety hazards. However, some oil towns were different. In 1890 Gibsonburg, in Sandusky
County, Ohio, passed laws prohibiting the drilling of oil wells within 300 feet of a residence.
Their efforts revealed environmentalist tendencies decades before it became a national concern.
The reforming spirit found in Gibsonburg’s residents continued and those early efforts set a precedent for further activism. In 1983 a local lime plant closed its doors and was slated for sale to the Gibsonburg Lime Company who would incinerate polychlorinated biphenyls, a known human carcinogen, as fuel. Many Gibsonburg residents quickly formed a group to oppose the plan. Their timely action resulted in the cancellation of the sale. In both instances, residents resisted the allure of money and jobs to keep themselves and their environment safe. This underscores the lengthy history of environmental activism in Gibsonburg, particularly related to petroleum and the petrochemical industries. iv
James Ritchey, Dave Henline, and Herb Storm on wagon, early 1900s. (In Carole Damschroder, ed., Gibsonburg, Ohio: Area History, 126.)
v
Dedicated to David and Sally Metzler and all of the families who made Sandusky County
their home during the oil boom. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………...... 1
CHAPTER ONE: THE EARLY HISTORY OF PETROLEUM ……… ………………….. 13
Petroleum and Its Uses before 1859………………………………………………… 22
Oil in the Americas ...... ………………………………………………… 33
CHAPTER TWO: GIBSONBURG’S GAS WAR ...... ………………………. 37
The Beginnings of the Petroleum Industry in Ohio .……………………………….. 40
Gibsonburg…… ...... …………………………………………………….. 45
The Gas War…… ...... ………………………………………………………….. 54
Gibsonburg After 1890……………………………………………… .……………. 65
Volunteer Fire Department…………………………………………………. 65
Agriculture ...... ………………………………………………….. 66
Churches ...... ……………………………………………………. 68
Parks and Recreation ...... ………………………………………………….. 71
CHAPTER THREE: SPIN AND NOPE; SANDUSKY COUNTY RESIDENTS GO
HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH HAZARDOUS INDUSTRIAL WASTE ………………………. 75
Polychlorinated Biphenyls… ...... …………………………………………………. 76
Pfizer Plant………………… ...... …………………………………………….. 79
Vickery Injection Wells ....…………………………………………………………. 109
CONCLUSION………… ...... ………………………………………………… 122
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………… ...... …………………… 123
APPENDIX A: ABBREVIATIONS……………… ..……………………………………… 139 vii LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
I.1 Albert Bierstadt, Among the Sierra Nevada, California, 1868 ...... 4
I.2 Thomas Cole, The Oxbow, View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts,
after a Thunderstorm, 1836 ...... 5
I.3 A Typical Photograph. Captures an Atypical Tourist ...... 7
I.4 Lucas Oil Well Gusher at Spindletop, Beaumont, Texas, 1901 ...... 9
1.1 U.S. Field Production of Crude Oil ...... 16
1.2 An Undated Night View Stereoview of the Karg Well...... 20
1.3 Photograph of Downtown Findlay, Ohio during the Gas Jubilee of 1888 ...... 21
2.1 Joseph Garn, Well No. 9 ...... 41
2.2 Major Migrations of Oil Men ...... 43
2.3 Outline Map of Ohio: Oil and Gas Fields ...... 46
2.4 Oil Producing Regions of Sandusky County ...... 47
2.5 Gibsonburg Employment in 1900 for Workers ...... 51
2.6 Birthplace of U.S.-Born Workers in Gibsonburg, 1900...... 52
2.7 Birthplace of Foreign-Born Workers in Gibsonburg, 1900 ...... 52
2.8 Living Accommodations of Gibsonburg’s Workers, 1900 ...... 53
2.9 Living Accommodations of Gibsonburg’s Oil Workers, 1900 ...... 53
2.10 Oil Workers, Marital Status and Living Arrangements, Gibsonburg, 1900 ...... 53
2.11 Will Swartz and His Shooting Wagon ...... 55
2.12 The Kirkbride Gusher ...... 56
2.13 Helena, Ohio Taken About 1890 ...... 58
2.14 Oil Derricks Once Covered This Field in North Baltimore, Ohio ...... 63 viii 3.1 Gibsonburg Lime Products Co., 1937 ...... 80
3.2 By-gone Days! Pfizer Inc. Is No Longer in Use, 1994 ...... 82
3.3 Location of Class 1 Injection Wells in Ohio ...... 115
3.4 Class II Brine Injection Wells of Ohio ...... 116
1
INTRODUCTION
The narrative of petroleum during the industrial era has often been romanticized and
idealized. It is often presented to the general reader as a quintessential element of the American
success story. A man drilled for oil or leased his land to a large oil company, and he became rich
beyond his dreams either through his careful decisions about where to purchase land and where
to drill or through his aptitude in haggling with oil companies.1 Petroleum should be regarded
with some level of wonder; it has made many components of modern and contemporary life
possible. However, today, it is most often associated by the general public with cars and
pollution. This is not an inaccurate assessment as the United States consumes roughly 19
thousand barrels per day (TBPD) and 13 TBPD of those are used for transportation.2 Petroleum’s story is frequently simplified by many of the authors addressing its history. Men became rich, but many authors primarily focus on those who became fabulously wealthy such as John. D.
Rockefeller, Henry M. Flagler, Edward L. Doheny—the inspiration of J. Arnold Ross in the
1927 novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair—and other successful outliers. Oral histories of the industry that chronicle the lives of drillers, shooters, and others, did not appear until the 1970s.3
According to the common narrative, the oil magnates took advantage of whoever and whatever
they could, thus making their money fruit from a poison tree; no amount of philanthropy on their
part can erase the black marks left on their names. Over 200 books have been written about the
1 Mody C. Boatright, Folklore of the Oil Industry (Dallas: Southern Methodist, 1963), 4– 6. 2 Brian Black, Crude Reality: Petroleum in World History, Kindle edition (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2012), loc. 106 3 See Mody C. Boatright and William A. Owens. Tales from the Derrick Floor: A People’s History of the Oil Industry (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970) for the first of these published oral histories. Their project is a by-product of the Oral History of Texas Oil Pioneers that began recording histories in 1952. 2
Rockefellers, beginning with Ida Tarbell’s scathing exposé in 1904 on the Standard Oil
Company, and Suzanne Loebl’s 2010 book is the first to look solely at the Rockefeller’s artistic
contributions.4 John D. Rockefeller is remembered for being an unscrupulous “robber baron” and the cause of anti-trust lawsuits in 1909, but the family is generally not acknowledged for their
artistic pursuits and charitable donations, which include those of of his son, John D. Rockefeller,
Jr, his daughter-in-law, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller—a founder of the Metropolitan Museum of
Art—and Nelson Rockefeller, his grandson and a towering figure in the histories of both the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).5
Often overlooked in the standard narrative is the fact that the second industrial revolution
required petroleum and other natural resources. That revolution resulted in many of the comforts
that we associate with modernity. In the twenty-first century, however, petroleum and other hydrocarbons like natural gas and polychlorinated biphenyls are criticized for their effects on the environment, either directly through carbon monoxide emissions or through the actual extraction of petroleum from the ground or less directly through pipelines that crisscross the country.6
4 Suzanne Loebl, America’s Medicis: The Rockefellers and Their Astonishing Legacy (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), xi. 5 Ibid., xii. For more about the Rockefeller’s artistic contribution see Loebl, America’s Medicis. Their artistic projects also include the establishment of the Museum of Primitive Art in 1957, which pioneered the view that non-Western art was more than ethnic objects, and the rehabilitation of the palace at Versailles and the Rouen Cathedral in France. Nelson Rockefeller was also responsible for founding the first Endowment for the Arts while he was governor of New York; it served as a template for the National Endowment for the Arts. 6 “20,000 Gallons of Drilling Fluid Released into Maumee Tributary by NEXUS Pipeline Crews,” TB, August 2, 2018, https://www.toledoblade.com/business/2018/08/02/20-000-gallons- of-drilling-fluid-released-into-Maumee-tributary-by-NEXUS-pipeline-crews- npr/stories/20180802181; Megan Quinn Bachman, “Oil and Water—Drilling Stirs New Concerns in Ohio,” YSN, May 18, 2012, https://ysnews.com/news/2012/04/oil-and- water%E2%80%94-drilling-stirs-new-concerns; “Cause of Noble County Gasline Explosion Still Unknown,” MFTL, January 25, 2019, http://www.timesleaderonline.com/news/local- news/2019/01/cause-of-noble-county-gasline-explosion-still-unknown/; and Dave Larsen, "Natural Gas Boom Brings Growth, Risk: Large Reserves Boost Ohio Economy, but Fracking 3
Forgotten throughout much of this narrative is the impact that the petroleum industry has had on local communities that featured significantly in oil industry activity. Boom towns are often associated with a filth and a perceived sinful lifestyle, but that is not the whole story.
Most European Americans in the 1800s were perfectly comfortable taking advantage of natural resources. Farming was a staple activity that required the cooperation of the environment and the weather. Other activities such as whaling involved using the natural resources that were available in the seas. However, following the Civil War a shift occurred; not only could there be hidden wealth beneath a person’s feet, but people also grew to appreciate the natural spaces that surrounded them. They began caring about how human activity may impact the environment, but this concern did not become widespread until the early 1900s and companies did not consider the impact that their activities may have on their surroundings until the 1950s.
This period coincides with the Romantic movement in literature and art. In America there was the Hudson River School, whose artists focused on uniquely American landscapes. In 1868
Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) memorialized the majesty of the western mountains in Among the
Sierra Nevada, California (Figure I.1). The founder of the movement Thomas Cole (1801–1848) contrasted wilderness with civilization in his 1836 painting The Oxbow, View from Mount
Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm (Figure I.2).7 We have here the
(re)emergence of the sublime, of awe mixed with terror, something that aptly describes Bierstadt or Cole’s work or the actual experience of standing in natural spaces like the Grand Canyon.
Worry Builds; 397 Horizontal Shale Wells Operating in State," DDN, Jun 17, 2014, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1536070199?accountid=26417. 7 For more about industry in Cole’s paintings see Sophie Lynford, “Idyllic and Industrial Visions: Thomas Cole, William Guy Wall, and the Hudson River,” in Picturesque and Sublime: Thomas Cole’s Trans-Atlantic Inheritance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018), 67–81. 4
Figure I.1: Albert Bierstadt, Among the Sierra Nevada, California, 1868, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, bequest of Helen Huntington Hull, granddaughter of William Brown Dinsmore, who acquired the painting in 1873 for "The Locusts," the family estate in Dutchess County, New York, 1977.107.1.
5
Figure I.2: Thomas Cole, The Oxbow, View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm, 1836, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, bequest of Mrs. Russell Sage, 08.228.
6
Cole immigrated to Ohio from Scotland with his family when he was a young man. They
lived for a short time in Steubenville, Ohio, where Cole learned the basics of oil painting and
worked on some of his first landscapes; these focused on the Ohio River Valley.8 He was
enchanted by what he had heard about the Great Lakes and the mighty rivers—particularly the
Ohio—as a child.9 The work of Cole and the Romantics also reflected the increased respect for nature and an appreciation for unsullied landscapes, a new desire given the recent emergence of
industry in many areas, that we see elsewhere in American culture. There is a desire for places
untouched by man and industry.10
It was during this period of increased appreciation for the land and its beauty that the
National Park system was born. Yellowstone was founded by a bill signed by President Ulysses
S. Grant in 1872. It was quickly followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875, Rock Creek Park,
Sequoia, and Yosemite National Parks in 1890.11 Just after the turn of the century, there was the
environmentally significant presidency of Theodore Roosevelt (Figure I.3). During his eight
years as president “Roosevelt … did far more for the long-term protection of wilderness than all
of his White House predecessors combined.”12 He was aware of “the pitfalls of hyper-
industrialization” and was “fearful that speed-logging, black-rock mining, overgrazing, reckless
hunting, oil drilling, population growth, and all types of pollution would leave the planet in
8 Louis Legrand Noble, The Life and Words of Thomas Cole, ed. Elliot S. Vesell (Cambridge, Mass.: the Belknap Press, 1864, reprint, Hensonville, New York: Black Dome Press Corp., 1997), 10 and 13–14. 9 Ibid., 5 10 Leo Marx, The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), 7–13. 11 Mackinac was decommissioned in 1895 and Rock Creek Park was merged with the National Capital Parks. 12 Douglas Brinkley, The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009), 20. 7
Figure I.3: A Typical Photograph Captures an Atypical Tourist, Theodore Roosevelt (front) is followed by John Hance as the Colgate party descends the Bright Angel Trail (In William C. Suran, The Kolb Brothers of Grand Canyon, 18).
8
Biological peril.”13 Environmental conservation was one of his main concerns. He created the
United States Forest Service (USFS) and established 150 national forests, fifty-one federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, eighteen national monuments, and five national parks including Crater Lake National Park in 1902, Wind Cave National Park in 1903, and Mesa Verde
National Park in 1906.14 He also added land to Yosemite National Park.15 Some of his National
Monuments later became National Parks including Lassen Peak, Pinnacles, Mount Olympus, and the Grand Canyon.16
The blooming interest in conservation found in Roosevelt, John Muir, and others was developing alongside increased industrialization and the boom of petroleum. Roosevelt was particularly concerned about this new industry. When news reached him of the Spindletop gusher, a petroleum well that came in roaring in at 100,000 barrels per day while spouting oil
200 feet in the air that—a watershed moment for the industry—in 1901 he “didn’t know whether it was a cause for celebration or woe. … The western plains of Texas and Oklahoma, he knew, would never be the same now that oil had been found (Figure I.4).”17 Roosevelt also managed to find a way to be at war with the Standard Oil Company for his entire career; he even rejected a
13 Ibid. 14 “Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation,” National Park Service, accessed February 27, 2019, https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-and- conservation.htm. Other National Parks include Sullys Hill, which is now managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Platt National Park, which is now part of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. 15 Ibid. 16 Theodore Roosevelt’s other National Monuments include: Devil’s Tower, El Morrow, Montezuma Castle, Petrified Forest (now a National Park), Chaco Canyon, Cinder Cone (now part of Lassen Peak National Park), Gila Cliff Dwellings, Tonto, Muir Woods, Jewel Cave, Natural Bridges, Lewis and Clark Caverns (now a Montana State Park), Tumacacori, and Wheeler (now known as Wheeler Geological Area, which is part of the Rio Grande National Forest. 17 Brinkley, Wilderness Warrior, 383. 9
Figure I.4: Lucas Oil Well Gusher at Spindletop, Beaumont, Texas, 1901, third from left is Al W. Hammill who dilled the well, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, 10003539.
10
$100,000 campaign contribution.18 That is the national story, but Roosevelt was not alone in his desire for conservation and preservation. Leo Marx argues that the tension between industry and nature is a distinctly American story, and that tension and desire for preservation can be found in small towns as early as the 1890s.19
This thesis argues that the citizens of the town of Gibsonburg, Ohio largely resisted the allure of petroleum and other hydrocarbon industries to protect themselves and their immediate environment. Their early efforts set a precedent for later conservation work in the vicinity. The first chapter provides brief history of petroleum in general, and in the Americas and the United
States in particular. The history of the petroleum industry begins long before Colonel Edwin L.
Drake sank a well in Pennsylvania in 1859; and there are even debates about whether or not he was the first man to complete a commercial petroleum well; a man in Canada may have been the first.
Each state and country where petroleum has been found has its own story. There is also the history of technology and the inventors of that technology, which includes a popular mayor of Toledo, Ohio, Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones (1846–1904)—he was elected four times and served his city from 1897 until his death in 1904—who patented a sucker rod design for oil well applications.20 This first chapter focuses on a broad history, covering petroleum’s appearance in prehistory and ancient history before moving on to its history in the United States and its discovery in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere. It also examines the early uses of petroleum; these included illumination and medicinal uses. During the early years of the industry Ohio
18 Ibid., and 575–576. 19 Marx, 4. 20 “ ‘Golden Rule’ Jones of Ohio,” American Oil and Gas Historical Society, accessed March 30, 2019, https://aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/golden-rule-jones-of-ohio/. 11
played a central role and northwest Ohio was once a major hub of activity in the various
industries related to hydrocarbons with many small towns and villages playing a significant role.
The second chapter focuses on Gibsonburg, Ohio, and its place in the petroleum industry
of the 1890s. It begins by touching on the evolution of the petroleum industry from Pennsylvania
to Ohio. It examines the history of the petroleum industry in Wood County and Hancock County;
these are much better known and understood than the petroleum history of Sandusky County, but
one boom led to another. Residents from Gibsonburg and the neighboring village of Helena saw
the prosperity of towns in Wood County and Hancock County and they wanted that same
success. While Gibsonburg desired to be prosperous, the town did not progress in a fashion
similar to Lima, North Baltimore, and other important oil industry towns in northwest Ohio.
Gibsonburg was not free of law and order; rather its residents were quite interested in providing a
safe, quiet town. In 1890, less than three years after the discovery of gas and petroleum in the
town, city leaders passed an ordinance prohibiting the drilling for gas or oil within 300 feet of a
home.21 This ordinance sparked a “war” between those who wished to drill for oil wherever they
pleased and those who wished to keep Gibsonburg clean and safe. With the drilling ordinance evidence of the tension that also existed on a national level between the Progressive Era reformers with Roosevelt at their head and the Standard Oil Company in the early 1900s is evidenced. These actions are evidence of the environmentalist tendencies in Sandusky Country before environmentalism appeared on a national level. Gibsonburg was one of the first, if not the first, towns in Northwest Ohio to take a stand against the oil industry in order to protect their quality of life and the environment. Chapter Two ends with a brief overview of Gibsonburg after
1890.
21 GD, June 4, 1890, p4c5. 12
The third and final chapter documents further environmental activism in regards to hydrocarbons in Gibsonburg. In 1983, the Pfizer company’s lime plant that was located just outside the village limits closed its doors; it was no longer profitable to produce lime. This left over 100 Gibsonburg residents without jobs. Shortly after the plant closed a new company of investors from Columbus, the Gibsonburg Lime Company (GLC), began negotiating to purchase the plant. However, they would not be profitable if they simply produced lime. They proposed burning as fuel waste-oils contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a probable human carcinogen. The plant would be paid to take in the oils and the oils would make up 25% of their fuel; this plan would make the plant profitable again. The new company promised that former Pfizer employees would be the first hired when the plant reopened, and a group formed to support the reopening of the plant. This group, however, only organized after an opposition group called Stop PCB Incineration Now (SPIN) had been active for several months. The oppostion group was worried about a host of problems associated with the burning of PCBs as fuel. These concerns included real estate values, the environment, and the public’s health. Due to the quick organization on the part of concerned citizens, the Pfizer company chose not to sell the plant to GLC. These efforts are linked with the town’s earlier crusade against oil. In both instances they resisted the allure of money and jobs to keep the environment and themselves safe. This underscores the lengthy history of environmental activism in Gibsonburg, particularly related to petroleum and petrochemical industries.
13
CHAPTER ONE: THE EARLY HISTORY OF PETROLEUM
When Edwin L. Drake drilled his well for oil to the depth of 69.5 feet on August 27, 1859 near Titusville, Pennsylvania he was only looking for something that could replace the quickly dwindling supplies of whale oil that was used for illumination.22 This was the first well drilled specifically for oil in the United States and it launched the whole industry. Drake could not have foreseen the resulting booms that would echo across the United States, nor could he have imagined the number of items that would be created with petroleum or petroleum byproducts in the near future. It would be difficult to imagine life in the twenty-first century without petroleum.
Cars certainly need oil to grease their gears and provide the gasoline needed to propel them down the highway. However, petroleum is also used to create vast numbers of items that many people do not directly associate with it. Petroleum and its byproducts have a role in creating everything from nylon, polyester, and acrylic to rocket fuel, asphalt to plastic, and mascara to Crayola crayons.23 When this is combined with the fact that hydrocarbons “provide more than half of the total energy it takes to power the world we live in,” it becomes nearly impossible to imagine contemporary life without this controversial natural resource.24
22 “First Oil Well, First Oil Well Fire,” American Oil and Gas Historical Society, accessed August 2, 2018, https://aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/first-oil-well-fire/. 23 “A Crude History of Mabel’s Eyelashes,” American Oil and Gas Historical Society, accessed August 3, 2018, https://aoghs.org/products/vaseline-maybelline-history/#more-356; “Asphalt Paves the Way,” American Oil and Gas Historical Society, accessed August 3, 2018, https://aoghs.org/products/asphalt-paves-the-way/#more-6134; “Carbon Black & Oilfield Crayons,” American Oil and Gas Historical Society, accessed August 3, 2018, https://aoghs.org/products/oilfield-paraffin/#more-970; and “Nylon, a Petroleum Polymer,” American Oil and Gas Historical Society, accessed August 5, 2018, https://aoghs.org/products/petroleum-product-nylon-fiber/. 24 Mark Mau and Henry Edmundson, Groundbreakers: The Story of Oilfield Technology and the People Who Made it Happen, (Peterborough, England: Fast-Print Publishing, 2015), 3. For more about petroleum and culture see Stephanie LeMenager, Living Oil: Petroleum in the American Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). 14
Despite the ubiquity of petroleum in the twenty-first century, its history is not well- known. Petroleum is often treated as a new product that had very little history before it emerged from Drake’s well in Pennsylvania the day before he intended to forfeit the whole project.
Authors may mention the collection pits that were dug and lined with wood on the banks of the
Allegheny River which were used to collect oil during North America’s prehistoric period.25
This was the same method used to collect oil in the Absheron Peninsula in present-day
Azerbaijan, and that endeavor produced 28,000 barrels.26 When Ruth Sheldon Knowles (1915–
1996), a “journalist, petroleum specialist, independent oilwoman, and consultant to governments and industry,” wrote her history of oil, she chose to start with 1859 when “Edwin L. Drake, a sickly, bearded failure of a man in a stovepipe hat, brought in the nation’s first commercial oil well near Titusville, Pa.” and she quickly moved on from there.27 She then discussed John D.
Rockefeller (1839–1937) and J. Piermont Morgan (1837–1913), men made their fortunes in oil rather than those like Drake who would be penniless a few years after he left the oil industry.28
Drake had a friend who called upon all the oilmen of Titusville to raise $4,200 for the “man who had started them all.”29 Eventually, the state of Pennsylvania would “recognize the state’s debt to
Drake as the creator of its great new wealth and passed an act granting him an annuity of $1,500; after his death in 1880 it was continued to his widow.”30 Knowles even mentioned the men
25 J. H. A. Bone, Petroleum and Petroleum Wells: A Complete Guide Book and Description of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Company, 1865), 9–10. 26 Mau and Edmundson, 7. 27 Ruth Sheldon Knowles, The Greatest Gamblers: The Epic of American Oil Exploration, 2nd ed. (Noman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1978), v; and “OIL: The Greatest Gamblers,” TIME Magazine, May 25, 1959, http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,865931-1,00.html/. 28 Knowles, 8. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid. 15
whose dreams would not have become reality if not for oil—Henry Ford (1863–1947) and
Orville (1871–1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867–1912). From there she quickly moved on the
Beaumont, Texas, because “exploring for oil did not become important until 1901, when the
Spindletop gusher in Texas made men conscious of the abundance of oil in the earth.”31
While Spindletop was the largest well discovered up to that point, it should not be considered the actual beginnings of the petroleum industry. The U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), an independent statistics and analysis company, releases the monthly and yearly statistics regarding the many thousands of barrels of crude oil that are produced each day and the number of barrels produced per day was increasing, but the early increases after
Spindletop were greater than in the 42 years prior to Spindletop. The average increase of production each year before Spindletop was 4,570 barrels per day, but after Spindletop the average production increased each year until production peaked at nearly 10,000,000 barrels per day in the early 1970s (Figure 1.1). However, all the men who went west wildcatting for oil after
Spindletop had to come from somewhere, many of those who went West came from the Ohio and Pennsylvania fields where they had gained valuable experience wildcatting, drilling, building pipelines, and performing other jobs that were necessary to maintain the petroleum industry. However, Ohio remained the top producing oil state until 1903 despite Spindletop and the resulting boom and migrations.32
The Thompson family was among those from Ohio who traveled in search of work and
Sarah Lettie Thompson chronicles her family’s travels in her memoirs. Thompson’s story began
31 Ibid., vi. 32 Jeff A. Spencer, “From Brine Wells to Giant Oil Fields: The United State Petroleum Industry of the Nineteenth Century,” The New Orleans Geological Society 50, no. 5 (2009): 7 and 30. 16
Figure 1.1: U.S. Field Production of Crude Oil (In “Petroleum & Other Liquids,” U.S. Energy Information Administration, September 28, 2018).
17 in Rudolph, Ohio in 1892 and for the first several years her family moved from one location in
Northwest Ohio to another, but in 1902 her husband, Andrew, moved to Kansas while his family remained in Rudolph. However, it “wasn’t more than two weeks until A. J. was back again because, said he, ‘All I could get was a pumping job and I knew Mr. Nevels would give me work of that sort, so here I am.’ ”33 Shortly after A. J.’s return to Rudolf the family received word of the “marvelous opportunities that were being offered to those who would embrace them” in
California from family friends.34 The family moved to Twin Lakes, California and Andrew
Thompson was “to get a job on a Pipeline that was being laid from Colingo, Calif. to the Baker’s field. … The work is to last six Months and I will stay until the line is finished.”35 Three days later he was back in Twin Lakes: “Said I, ‘How come you are back, were you sick?’ ‘Yes and no,
I made up my mind if the like of that camp was the oil field work in Sunny California, I sure didn’t want any of it in my dish, I felt as tho [sic] to go back to Ohio and pump wells all my life would be Heaven to the side of that.’ … ‘Good, … for I have been Praying for you to say the word.”36 The Thompsons returned to Ohio and Andrew Thompson got a job working for the
Steel Brothers in Jerry City.37 While the Thompson family returned to Ohio they would move again, to Illinois and then to Kansas. These “moves were typical of many of the oil people” of
Northwest Ohio.38
While Andrew Thompson worked in the oil fields, Sarah would take her children to watch the wells come in, which was not an uncommon occurrence.39 When natural gas was
33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 18
found in Gibsonburg, Ohio the gas was lit and “a feeling of good cheer went up from every heart,
as the whole town waited breathlessly for the result. It was glorious news which went out, and
the entire population, almost, turned out to play and rejoice and give thanks under the gas light. It
was a time for rejoicing.”40 The same occurred on a much larger scale in Findlay, Ohio when Dr.
Charles Osterlin drilled a well for natural gas.41 His well came in on December 5, 1884. While
Osterlin’s well was the beginning of the gas boom for Findlay, its most impressive well did not
come in until January 20, 1886. This well, known in the present day as the Great Karg Well,
“roared up into a flame 100 feet high everyone, far and near, realized what a wealth of power and
heat was being tapped. The noise of the great gush of gas from the Karg Well could be heard five
miles away. Its light could be seen as far as Toledo, some fifty miles away. The well burned and
roared out of control for four months.”42 A source from the time however, says that it was only out of control for five days, but it did burn 100 feet high “for over four months consuming over
1.5 billion cubic feet of gas.43 The Karg Well reached gas at 1,146 feet within the Trenton
Limestone. It flowed at a rate of 20–50 million cubic feet of gas per day and it “threw stones as
large as a man’s hand over the top of the derrick.”44 This was a momentous event for the people
of Findlay just as it was for the people of Gibsonburg. Land prices in Findlay increased from $50 to $500 an acre; there were no vacant homes or rooms to be found in the whole city; and tourists
40 Gibsonburg Derrick, Gibsonburg, Ohio: A Brief Review of the Commercial, Industrial, and Residential Interests: With Biographical Sketch of Citizens: A Delineation of its Schools, Churches, Societies, and Merchantile Industries: with a Superb Display of Engravings, 1904– 1905 (Gibsonburg, Ohio: The Gibsonburg Derrick, 1905), 6. 41 Kathryn M. Keller, “Oil-Gas Boom Days in Northwest Ohio,” Ohio Cues 28, no. 8 (1979): 1; and Jeff A. Spencer, “A Journey Through Two Early Ohio Oil Booms: The Northwest Ohio and the Bremen-New Straitsville Booms,” Oil-Industry History 9, no. (2008): 59 42 Keller, 1–2. 43 “No. 13 The Great-Grandfather of All,” Findlay Weekly Jeffersonian, February 28, 1886, in Spencer, “A Journey Through Two Early Ohio Oil Booms,” 61. 44 Ibid., 59 and 61. 19
started coming to the city just to see the Karg Well.45 There were festivities for tourists and
townspeople to attend: “Over 70,000 visitors attended a three-day celebration (June 8–10, 1887)
in Findlay. Fifty-eight gas-lit arches were built over Main Street and special trains transported
the large crowds. The festivities included laying cornerstones for four new factories, military
parades, band contests, and fireworks. Distinguished guests included the governor, a senator, and
several military officers.”46 All of these events were recorded in photographs and postcards that were purchased by tourists (Figures 1.2–1.3).
Land speculation in Ohio was rampant after the Faurot well—the first significant oil well in northwest Ohio—located near Lima, came in on May 19, 1885 flowing at a rate of 200 barrels of oil per day.47 Within two years 250 wells were drilled from Lima through western Ohio and
into Indiana; this included 70 wells within the city limits of Lima! Late in 1886, the Fulton well
near North Baltimore came in at 500–600 barrels of oil per day.48 Shortly thereafter wells that
flowed at rates of 2,000–5,000 barrels of oil per day were drilled. By September of 1887 there
were three wells that were producing more than 10,000 barrels of oil per day.49 By mid-1888 the
Standard Oil Company had forty-three 35,000-barrel oil tanks and were building two per week on average; by the late 1890s there were over 300 oil storage tanks.50 The oil industry was well underway and many people were already on their way to making their fortunes including
Rockefeller and Henry M. Flagler (1830–1917) even though some, like Henry Ford, would have to wait until after Spindletop for their big breaks. Neither of these natural gas wells or the
45 Ibid., 61. 46 Ibid., 61–62. 47 Ibid., 62. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. 50 Ibid. 20
Figure 1.2: An Undated Night View Stereoview of the Karg Well (In Jeff A. Spencer, “A Journey Through Two Early Ohio Oil Booms, 63).
21
Figure 1.3: Photograph of Downtown Findlay, Ohio During the Gas Jubilee of 1888 (In “Indiana Natural Gas Boom,” American Oil and Gas Historical Society).
22 resulting commotion approached the scale of Spindletop, but they both heralded in new eras for their towns. Both towns expanded and welcomed the benefits of their new industries.
Gibsonburg, however, took a step back from the profit and the excitement and made difficult decisions to protect their town and their environment. To skip over the earlier history of petroleum just to get to the Beaumont, Texas fields would ignore the contributions of the men and women who were involved in the oil industry in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.
Petroleum and Its Uses Before 1859
Petroleum has a long history in many countries all over the globe. It was used by the ancient Mesopotamians, and the people of the early Indus River Valley civilizations used bitumen to seal the Great Bath in Mohenjo-Daro to make it waterproof. Marco Polo even mentioned petroleum when he wrote about his travels: “On the confines towards Georgiania there is a fountain from which oil springs in great abundance, insomuch that a hundred shiploads might be taken from it at one time. This oil is not good to use with food, but ‘tis good to burn, and it is also used to anoint camels that have the mange. People come from vast distances to fetch it, for in all the countries round about they have no other oil.”51
The Derrick’s Hand-Book of Petroleum (1898) only spent a brief amount of time covering the earliest references to petroleum before it progressed onward to discuss the earliest evidence and mentions of petroleum in the United States. The author stated that petroleum “has been known and used by mankind in various parts of the world from time immemorial. There are many interesting allusions to it in history—and it is impossible to state when it was first
51 Marco Polo, The Book of Sir Marco Polo, the Venetian: Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East; Newly Translated and Edited with Notes, Maps and other Illustrations, vol. 1, trans. Sir Henry Yule (London: John Murray, 1874) 48. 23
discovered.”52 The author accepted at face value the mentions of petroleum in the Old
Testament: the “ ‘slime’ used in the construction of the Tower of Babel over 4,000 years ago,
was doubtless partially evaporated petroleum, and it is believed that the ‘pitch’ with which Noah
coated the ark, 250 years earlier, was a similar product.”53 The author also claimed that bitumen
was taken from the Dead Sea and sold to the Egyptians who used it for embalming.54 The author
was not alone in this, for many “noted authorities on the Bible are of the opinion that in
numerous instances petroleum is referred to in both the Old and New Testaments under the term
‘salt,’” even though he failed to provide more information about the “noted authorities.”55
When mentions of petroleum in the ancient Mediterranean region are discussed the
author wass more forthcoming with his explicit citations. Herodotus mentioned “oil springs on the Island of Zante and tells of the bitumen that was taken from the River Is and used in the walls of Babylon. The ruins of this ancient city, and Nineveh as well, indicate that asphaltic cement was known and used by the inhabitants in the construction of their walls and buildings.”56 The
Roman historian Pliny noted that “Sicilian oil” was burned in the lamps of the Temple of Jupiter
during the early Christian period.57 The author claimed that this is the first recorded instance of
petroleum being purposefully used for illumination.58 This meant that for him the “holy fires from the naphtha and natural gas springs on the border of the Caspian Sea,” which had been
52 The Derrick’s Hand-Book of Petroleum: A Complete Chronological and Statistical Review of Petroleum Developments from 1859 to 1898; Daily Market Quotations, Table of Runs, Shipments and Stocks, Oil Exports, Field Operations and Other Subjects of Interest and Importance to the Oil Trade (Oil City, Penn.: Derrick Publishing Company, 1898), 5. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid. 57 Ibid. 58 Ibid. 24
worshiped and known since well before Pliny’s time, was not an example of intentional
illumination.59 It would be more accurate to say that the Sicilian oil in Roman lamps was the first
example of intentional interior illumination. Before the author moved on to discuss Oil Creek he
observed that many “other references might be cited to show the antiquity of petroleum and the
old-world knowledge of the subject, did the limits of this work permit.”60 However, he failed to direct his readers to those plentiful references; as a result, they remain a mystery.
J. T. Henry, who wrote a history of Pennsylvania and Ohio oil in 1873, “apprehended that a work of this sort overlooking” the history of petroleum in America prior to artesian boring
“would be incomplete” even though that history may not have any practical value for the reader.61 Henry also cited the ancient scholars Herodotus and Pliny, but Henry delved into
greater detail about the use of petroleum in ancient Mesopotamia. He cited the archaeological
work of Austen Henry Layard and Paul-Émile Botta who had uncovered evidence that asphaltic
mortar was used at Nineveh.62 This mortar made from asphalt was the same “slime” that was
alluded to in the Old Testament, according to Henry.63 The oil springs on the Euphrates attracted the attention of the Greeks, Alexander the Great, the Romans, Trajan, and the Byzantines, Julian the Apostate, and others.64 However, following this brief introduction Henry investigated the
origins and the uses of petroleum in Pennsylvania prior to Drake’s well. Henry referred to
59 Ibid. 60 Ibid. 61 J. T. Henry, The Early and Later History of Petroleum, with Authentic Facts in Regard to Its Development in Western Pennsylvania, the Parker’s and Butler County Oil Fields: Also Life Sketches of Pioneer and Prominent Operators, with the Refining Capacity of the United States (Philadelphia: Jasper B. Rodger Company, 1873), 9. 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid. 64 Ibid. 25
Drake’s well as “the discovery of the value of petroleum,” which is more precise and accurate
than the claim that Drake’s discovery was the beginning of all industry related to petroleum.65
In 1885 J. H. A. Bone provided a brief overview of the history of petroleum as well, but he cut that discussion short because “it is in America that the largest deposits of liquid petroleum are found. Besides the principal reservoirs in Northwestern Pennsylvania, there were other deposits, the full value of which have not yet been ascertained, in Southwestern Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Western Virginia, Kentucky, New York, Canada, Kansas, and California.”66 He did note
that indications of oil were found in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, but experiments were
still underway to discover the extent of the underground deposits.67 Despite his assumption about
American oil deposits, Bone did provide information about petroleum in areas near the Caspian
Sea and in southeast Asia. On “the shores of the Caspian Sea, at Bakoo,” there were
“extraordinary manifestations of petroleum oil and gas. These extend over a tract of country about twenty-five miles in length, about half a mile wide … In the vicinity are hills of volcanic rock, through which springs of the heavier sort of petroleum flow.”68 Here the oil was gathered in the much the same way it was gathered along the Allegheny River in open “wells, from sixteen to twenty feet deep,” that were dug, “and in these the oil gathers as it oozes from the strata.”69 In this region of the world the petroleum was then sold and distributed for illuminating
purposes.70
65 Ibid., 29. 66 Bone, 10. 67 Ibid., 10–11. 68 Ibid., 9. 69 Ibid. 70 Ibid., 9–10. 26
Bone then discussed the production of petroleum in present-day Myanmar. He argued that the “Rangoon district, on the Irrawaddy, is … famous for its large product of rock oil, and for centuries the whole Burman empire has been supplied with oil from this source.”71 This site produced two-thirds of what was exported from New York in 1864, or about 400,000 hogshead barrels.72 The people there used it for illumination, for medicine—not an uncommon practice— but they would also use it on wood to preserve it and to deter destruction from insects.73 Bone compared oil from the Rangoon district to the oil found in Pennsylvania, while observing that petroleum “is frequently found in the neighborhood of volcanos,” because there was oil on the water around the volcanic islands of Cape Verde, off the coast of Senegal, and there was an oil spring south of Mount Vesuvius. These sorts of assumptions about where oil was to be found were common before the geology of petroleum was understood, but that was not until several decades in the future.
There are only three English sources that discuss the history of petroleum outside the
Americas in any great depth found by this author. The first of these was published in 1898 by
John J. McLaurin. McLaurin was very thorough when he addressed the areas that were rushed over by his predecessors and contemporaries, but he does admit that even his detailed work was not comprehensive. He said that life “is too short to compile a book that would cover the subject fully, hence this work is not a detailed history of the great petroleum development. … it is a sincere endeavor to print something regarding petroleum … which may be worth saving from
71 Ibid., 10. 72 Ibid. The measurement of 400,000 hogsheads is roughly equal to 25,200,000– 25,600,000 gallons or 600,000–609,524 oil barrels depending on whether they were 63 or 64 gallon hogsheads. 73 Ibid. 27
oblivion.”74 Sadly, this meant that if McLaurin did consider the story historically valuable it did
not find its way into his book and it may indeed have been lost to the oblivion. He did admit that
the history is already being lost when he was writing:
Many intelligent persons, recalling the tallow-dip and lard-oil lamp of their youth, consider the entire petroleum-business of very recent date, whereas its history goes back to remotest antiquity. Naturally they are disappointed to find it, in various aspects, ‘the same thing over again.’ Men and women in the prime of life have forgotten the flickering pine-knot, the sputtering candle or the smoky sconce hardly long enough to associate rock oil with ‘the brave days of old.’75
McLaurin argued that this is in part due to this “idea of newness the host of fresh industries
created by oil-operations has tended to deepen in the popular mind.”76 Even though it may be difficult to imagine that this product which results in “genuine luxury” had existed since “time immemorial,” since before “Noah’s flood had space to dry,” it had been widely used throughout antiquity and the foundation for the petroleum business today was laid even though people were unaware of “derricks, drilling tools, tank-cars, refineries, and pipelines.”77 For McLaurin the modern petroleum industry was different from the older form of the industry because the “game of ‘hide-and-seek’ between Mother Earth and her children has terminated in favor of the latter.”78
McLaurin then examined the impact of petroleum on the modern world. He detailed the
amount of money invested in the United States starting with the first $1,000 dollars in 1859 to
74 John J. McLaurin, Sketches in Crude-Oil: Some Accidents and Incidents of the Petroleum Development in All Parts of the Globe; with Portraits and Illustrations, 2nd ed., Kindle edition (Harrisburg, Penn.: Self-Published, 1898), loc. 48. 75 Ibid., loc. 478. 76 Ibid., loc. 481. 77 Ibid., loc. 482. 78 Ibid., loc. 487. 28
the 600,000,000 in the late 1800s.79 Such grand sums provided “material for endless flights of
the imagination.”80 He counted off the number of miles of pipe that were laid and the number for
ships that carried the oil across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.81 He wrote that “ ‘Astral Oil’ and ‘Standard White’ have penetrated ‘wherever a wheel can roll or a camel’s foot be planted.’
”82 He also named the states where oil had been found, how many wells were drilled, and the
number of barrels came from those wells. All of this indicated that petroleum was king and that
we should consider the origins of petroleum if we are to comprehend its role in history in terms
of business, modernity, and environmentalism.
McLaurin agreed with other scholars when they said that we will never know the exact
date that petroleum was discovered because that “information has ‘gone where the woodbine
twineth,’ to join the dodo, the megatherium, the ichthyosaurus and the ‘lost arts.’”83 Despite the
fact that the information has gone “to join the dodo” that does not prevent his contemporaries
from speculating and dating the discovery of petroleum to the Garden of Eden. McLaurin
dutifully recorded these theories:
‘Adam had a fall?’ ‘Sure as death and taxes.’ ‘Why did he fall with such neatness and dispatch?’ ‘Maybe he took a spring to fall.’ ‘Naw! Because everything was greased for the occasion. Unquestionably the only lubricant on this footstool just then was the petroleum brewed in God’s own subterranean stills.’84
79 Ibid., loc. 492. 80 Ibid. 81 Ibid., loc. 495. 82 Ibid. 83 Ibid., loc. 507. 84 Ibid., loc. 511. 29
Not only did some of McLaurin’s contemporaries attribute the fall of Adam to petroleum, a fall
that he could have been prevented if “that pippin had been soaked in crude-oil,” some attributed
“the longevity of antediluvian veterans to their unstinted use of petroleum for internal and
external ailments.”85 Seneca Indians also used it as a medicine; they rubbed it on their bodies and
drank it.86 Later it would be sold as a patent medicine to cure all manner of ailments and as a
lubricant for mechanical machinery.87 It was considered to be “the great American medicine” and it was known as “Seneca Oil,” “American Medicinal Oil,” and it was sold in “eight-ounce bottles wrapped in a circular setting forth in good patent medicine style its virtues as a cure-all
and giving directions about its use.”88 It was primarily used as a lotion that was applied to
wounds but it was also advertised as a cure for “cholera morbus, liver complaint, bronchitis and
consumption and the dose prescribed was three teaspoonfuls three times a day!”89 H. B. Lee
recalled a product named “Rathbone’s Rock Oil” from his childhood, and he observed that his
grandfather possessed “at least a dozen of those small jugs.” The labels on the containers
indicated that the petroleum-based product could be used to treat medical conditions such as
“rheumatism and muscular neuralgia…consumption, coughs, colds, croup, asthma, bronchitis,
and other respiratory ailments.”
85 Ibid., loc. 517 and 521. 86 Paul G. Lopez, dir., Ohio Crude: The Excitement of Ohio’s Gas & Oil Booms, Bowling Green, Ohio: WBGU-TV, 2005, DVD; and John Mulvany, “Coal-oil as a Medicinal Agent,” The British Medical Journal (1869): 280. 87 Lopez; Bone, 7–8; David L. McKain and Bernard L. Allen, Where It All Began: The Story of the People and Places Where the Oil and Gas Industry Began; West Virginia and Southeastern Ohio (Parkersburg, West Virginia: Self-Published, 1994), 8–9; and Ida M. Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company, Vol. 1, (New York: McClure, Phillips and Co., 1904), 4–7. 88 Tarbell, 5. 89 Ibid. 30
J. E. Brantly, on the other hand, focused on the technology used to acquire oil in his 1971
book.90 He began by addressing the means used to acquire water in dry and arid areas such as
Mesopotamia. India, and Egypt.91 The decision to include such information in spite of the fact that it “has no direct bearing on modern tools and machines” is based on the “thought that the origin and background of the principal terms used in well drilling should be disclosed. In other words, the archaeology, evolution and development of machines and such devices from which drilling equipment was derived and for which the oil industry was developed, should be included.”92 As such the history of the “actual well drilling process” must “go behind the period of earliest use of a given device or machine in the oil well drilling industry and uncover its origin.”93 Brantly limited his scope to the “actual well drilling process and its closely associated
operations” and excluded everything else.94 Despite quantity and quality of information included in this tome, it came perilously close to never being published, but James A. Clark, President of
Energy Research and Education Foundation (EREF), “decided that such a serious and unnecessary void in the history of energy development in the world should not be allowed to exist.”95 The EREF’s goal was to educate the public about energy sources and aiding Brantly’s
project furthered their aims.96
90 Oilfield technology is also discussed in Oil Men’s Association of Butler County, Oil Region Reminiscences: Souvenir Twenty-First Annual Gathering of the Oil Men of Western Pennsylvania at Conneaut Lake, Thursday, July 25th, 1907 (Butler, Penn,: Mechling Bookbindery, 1907). 91 J. E. Brantly, History of Oil Well Drilling (Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company, 1971), 31. 92 Ibid., xviii. 93 Ibid., xviii–xix. 94 Ibid., xix. 95 Ibid., xiii. 96 Ibid. 31
Brantly remained true to his narrow scope of technology. He examined multifarious wells from different regions and years of history, from water wells in Thebes during the Middle and
New Kingdoms to brine wells in China to inventions by Leonardo da Vinci.97 Brantly mentioned the writings of the Plinys, Herodotus, Plutarch, and others concerning the showings of petroleum in Sicily and modern day Turkey, but he lamented that “the early historians and writers were rarely interested in describing the tools, means and methods used in performing such lowly manual labors as digging holes or erecting structures.”98 As a result, the reader was left to surmise how petroleum was collected in those regions. It is likely that most wells were dug by hand “to increase the supply and obtain cleaner, fresher asphalt and heavy oil.”99 We do know that shallow wells that reached a depth of 37 feet were dug by the order of Senn, an ancient
Assyrian king, and wells in Sicily or Asia Minor may have been similar.100 They certainly had the equipment and knowledge needed to dig wells up to hundreds of feet deep.101
Mark Mau, a business historian, and Henry Edmundson, founding editor of the Oilfield
Review, also explored oilfield technology in their 2015 book, but they did not restrict themselves to a single category of machinery nor did they address enginery at the expense of all other areas of inquiry. Their story is one “about people who were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.”102 They also surveyed events not directly related to the oil industry that led to instruments that furthered the search for oil. One such example was the sinking of the Titanic in
1912.103 After that tragedy efforts were made to prevent iceberg collisions in the future; this led
97 Ibid., 37, 42–47, and 50–53. 98 Ibid., 38. 99 Ibid. 100 Ibid. 101 Ibid., 40. 102 Mau and Edmundson, 3. 103 Ibid., 4. 32
to seismic exploration. World War I also has a role to play in the development of seismic
exploration when both sides sought ways to identify the locations of their enemies’ artillery.104
Many other seemingly unassociated events, goals, and ideas also furthered the efforts of the oil industry and Groundbreakers proved this through its stories of men who are lucky in the
Napoleonic sense.
Mau and Edmundson made it clear from the very beginning that they wanted to tell a comprehensive story. They did not limit themselves to the United States, the Americas, or even countries traditionally associated with oil production: “The adventure began in the mid-19th century with the first drilled oil wells in Azerbaijan and the United States.”105 And they easily
conceded that “the preponderance of oil field innovation has come from the West, but the
Russians also played a huge part, especially in the early days,” something that may not have been
easily admitted for much of the 20th century.106
Mau and Edmundson’s narrative began in the Absheron Peninsula where Marco Polo
observed oil seeps during his travels. Originally the oil was acquired from shallowly dug pits, but
on July 14, 1848 Count Mikhail Semyonovich Voronstov authorized “oil exploration in the Bibi-
Eybat sector, Baku district, Caspian Sea by means of earth drills and allocate 1,000 roubles for
this purpose.”107 Later that year a well sunk by Major Alexeev struck crude oil at 69 feet.108 This
was the first oil well.109 They used cable-tool drilling, wherein a bit is attached to a cable and
dropped repeatedly into a hole, which was the same method that Colonel Edwin Drake used a
104 Ibid. 105 Ibid., 3. 106 Ibid., 4. 107 Ibid., 7. 108 Ibid. 109 Ibid. 33
decade later to encounter oil at the same depth.110 The authors jumped from Alexeev to Drake
and said that “the first well drilled for oil” in North America was the work of Drake.111
Oil in the Americas
Mau and Edmondson’s assessment of Drake’s well as the first well drilled for oil in
North America may not be entirely correct; a well in Canada may have predated Drake’s. Samuel
W. Tait, Jr., “who was almost literally born in a derrick, and whose father, when a little less than
fourteen, went to work on wells in Oil Creek, when the game itself was barely ten years old,”
and who wrote an informal history of wildcatting because “it was worth writing because it is
always enjoyable to write about the thing one likes best,” wrote a book that investigated early
appearances of oil in the Americas.112 Petroleum was being used and its presence had been noted long before Drake started on his wildcat well—a well drilled in unproven territory. Petroleum
had appeared in salt wells near the Great Kanawha River near Charleston, West Virginia and it
was present on bodies of water in southeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. A Franciscan
missionary also mentioned an oil spring near Cuba, New York, in 1627.113 George Washington
learned about oil and gas springs in Western Virginia and visited them, and while he never
visited the natural gas springs on the Kanawha River he knew of their presence and took the title
for 250 acres of land around the spring.114 He later deeded the spring and some land around it to
the public, evidence that he may have perceived its value as a natural resource: “The tract of
which the 123 acres is a moiety, was taken up by General Andrew Lewis and myself for and on
110 Ibid., 7–8. 111 Ibid. 112 Samuel W. Tait, Jr., The Wildcatters: An Informal History of Oil-Hunting in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1946), xv–xvi. 113 Ibid., 7. 114 McKain and Allen, 1. 34 account of a bituminous spring which is contained, of so inflamiable (sic) a nature as to burst forth as freely as spirits, and is nearly as difficult to extinguish.”115 There is also the La Brea
Pitch Lake in Trinidad. It is the largest deposit of asphalt in the world and is a major supplier on the international market; it was recently considered as a source for asphalt to pave the new
Beijing International Airport’s tarmac.116 However, in the 19th century the high sulphur content of the La Brea Pitch Lake’s bitumen meant that it had to be consolidated for shippping and then mined from the holds of ships for unloading.117 As a result, bitumen beds on mainland America were preferable, and it was not long before two beds in Enniskillen Township, Lambton County, in southwest Ontario were put to use.118
J. H. Williams of Hamilton, Ontario, being familiar with the work of James Young, who worked on making coal oil, but was redirected to petroleum by a friend who introduced him to a petroleum spring “that could more readily be made into an illuminant and lubricant” to replace the rapidly dwindling whale oil and had experience distilling coal oil and refining petroleum
“found at seepages in Rumania,” went to these bitumen beds in 1857.119 By 1858 Williams had built a small refinery as to produce illuminating oil.120 He was not alone; he was joined by A. C.
Ferris of New York who wished to purchase Williams’ land.121 Williams refused the offer and sunk holes four feet square about forty to sixty feet into the ground. He found oil there and
115 Ibid., 1–2. 116 “Trinidad Asphalt for World’s Largest Airport in China,” TE, May 16, 2018, https://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/local/trinidad-asphalt-for-world-s-largest-airport-in- china/article_e721f278-592f-11e8-936a-2ff1cc48d377.html. 117 Tait, 3. 118 Ibid. 119 Ibid., 2–3. 120 Ibid., 3–4. 121 Ibid., 4. 35 pumped it to the surface.122 However, according to Tait, Williams was more than just “the first major oil operator” and he deserved more space in the history of petroleum than he was generally granted, “which has been none at all unless the writer happened to be Canadian.”123 Tait cited an article that appeared in the Toronto Globe on August 29, 1861. The article was written by a correspondent who traveled to the field to report on the oil boom that was developing in the region. It read, “No. 27. Williams & Co., proprietors. Well sunk 46 feet to rock; bore 100 feet in rock. This well averages the large quantity of 60 barrels a day. A very great deal of oil has been taken from it. It has been in operation two years.”124 Tait focuses on the final sentence, “It had been in operation two years.”125 Exactly two years before the report was published, news of
Drake’s well was beginning to spread. If, however, Well No. 27 had been in operation for even a day over two years, if “the correspondent’s statement of length of operation means, as such expressions so frequently do, that the well had been operated longer than two years” then
Williams was the first to drill a producing commercial well drilled solely for oil in North
America.126
Many more sources discuss the history of petroleum in the Americas in general and the
United States in particular, but none mention Williams and his well in Black Creek, Ontario.
Knowles said that “Drake’s well oozing oil dated the birth of the oil industry simply because it was the first well that sought oil and found it” and other authors did not contradict her.127 There
122 Ibid. 123 Ibid. 124 Ibid. 125 Ibid. 126 Ibid., 5. 127 Knowles, 7. 36 were earlier wells that specifically sought oil, but they came up dry. Williams and Drake were the first to seek and find oil.128
The oil industry that proceeded from the efforts of Drake, Williams, and many others is well documented in many places. Yet, there are gaps. There are places where information about whole areas of oil production seem to be missing, but other areas—the story of Drake and his well, the subsequent development of Titusville, Oil Creek, and many other places along the
Allegheny River, the opening of the Indiana-Lima Field, the rise of Standard Oil, the story of
Spindletop—are superbly documented in a wide array of places. Some sources provide more detail about how Drake came to sink his well, others are more interested in the technology, and others just want to get to the big booms, the fields in Texas, or the scandals such as the Teapot
Dome, but that history will not be duplicated here. Instead, we turn our attention to some of those gaps in an effort to remedy some omissions from the historical narrative on the history of oil production in Northwest Ohio and how oil revealed early environmental concerns.
128 Tait, 5. 37
CHAPTER TWO: GIBSONBURG’S GAS WAR
In the 1890s Gibsonburg, Ohio was an oil town. However, in the 2010s, the town’s oil history has been all but forgotten. A derrick was featured on the commemorative centennial
plate, but the details were no longer remembered. In 2010 Gibsonburg is home to 2,581
residents.129 The population has remained relatively steady since the 1930s. However, there was
a time when the town was expanding rapidly. The town’s population more than doubled in size
between 1890 and 1900; the number of residents rose from about 900–1000 inhabitants to about
2,000. Over the next three decades the town would expand by a few hundred residents, reaching
its current average. Today, the town is proud of its outdoor statues in Williams Park, but its
prowess in softball and baseball—the high school baseball team’s “miracle championship run”
was recently made into a movie and the softball team won the state championship in 2001, 2002,
2003, and were the state runner ups in 2004—of which the town in most proud.130 They did not
see themselves a s a community with deep set environmental interests.
Oil was not the only industry that found a home in Gibsonburg. It was also a producer of
lime until the 1980s. While the town is no longer a producer of lime, its presence is inescapable.
To the north side of town are three large lime quarries that have gradually filled with water.
Another is located to the south of town in what is today a county park, White Star. This quarry
acts as a swimming beach for the residents. In many of these quarries, scuba diving is offered
and encouraged. Several cars were sunk in White Star to provide points of interest for the divers.
129 United States Census, 2010. 130 Steve Junga, “Gibsonburg reloading to tie record of 4 straight softball titles,” The Toledo Blade, April 12, 2004, http://www.toledoblade.com/HighSchool/2004/04/12/Gibsonburg- reloading-to-tie-record-of-4-straight-softball-titles.html; and Steve Junga, “Gibsonburg baseball’s miracle championship run in 2005 made into a movie,” The Toledo Blade, May 29, 2013, http://www.toledoblade.com/HighSchool/2013/05/29/Gibsonburg-baseball-s-miracle- championship-run-in-2005-made-into-movie.html. 38
It is not just the quarries that remain; piles of lime are present as well. These can be seen on
satellite views of the town. There are some northwest of town, but these figure less in the town’s
public life than others. To the southeast, within a county park, are more hills of lime. In the
summer children ride their bikes there; the high school’s cross country and track teams use them
for practice; and in the winter the hills are used for sledding.
However, not all parts of the town’s history are as easy to observe. In the early days was home to a baseball team, the only baseball association in the county, was called the Derricks and
the town was not known for its baseball prowess or its lime manufacturing. It was an oil town, a
fact of which the residents were proud as was evidenced in the name of their baseball team—the
Derricks—the name of their newspaper—The Gibsonburg Derrick—and the articles in the paper;
“Gibsonburg to the front! Thirty-three rigs up in the Gibsonburg oil field! A roaring gasser, the largest in the county on the Louis Soleman farm! … The Buckeye Pipe Line Co.’s April report shows an increase in operations in all the Ohio fields, especially in the Gibsonburg field, which is becoming one of the leading oil fields in the country.”131 They claimed that the two “ ‘dry holes’ reported [were] ‘wild cats,’ as the Standard has been testing new territory.132 The paper declared itself “the oil and gas journal of Sandusky county” and that it “will remain so.”133 They
argued that their “complete list of all the wells in the Gibsonburg field … is one evidence of this
fact.”134 The newspaper was published weekly and there was always at least one column devoted
to the region’s oil news.
131 GD, May 8, 1890, p4c4. 132 Ibid. 133 GD, May 22, 1890, p4c2. 134 Ibid. 39
The claim that the Gibsonburg field was “becoming one of the leading oil fields in the
country” may have been overstated, but they were an oil town.135 New wells were completed,
new wells were in the process of being drilled, and new rigs were erected on a weekly basis.
During the first week of May 1890 ten wells were completed, fifteen wells were being drilled,
thirty-three new derricks were up, zero wells were abandoned, and there were only two dry
holes.136 However, the town did not fit into the stereotype of a typical boom town, aside from the
rapid growth experienced during the boom years. Boom towns were typically known for their
lackadaisical approach to law and order, their active nightlife, and their disappearance once the
wells dried up or new, larger fields were opened in elsewhere, as was the case for much of
Northwest Ohio.137 When the oil work dried up a slow deterioration commonly occurred in “an individual and collective sense,” and the “town gradually drift[ed] back into the farming center or cow camp it was before the discovery of oil.”138 Gibsonburg was not the average boom town.
The town greatly valued law, order, and peace on all fronts. Residents would not tolerate
behavior that they considered to be immoral, such as gambling. They even passed town laws that
prohibited rowdy behavior and the drilling of wells within the town’s limits. Gibsonburg
boomed, but it did so quietly and in a way that allowed the city to maintain its size even once the
135 GD, May 8, 1890, p4c4. When wells were abandoned it was important that they be properly sealed. Many of which were not. For legislation regarding this issue and outcomes of improperly capped wells see Tiffany Ann Borton, “Use of Remote Sensing and Geophysical Techniques for Locating Abandoned Oil Wells, Wood County, Ohio,” M.A. thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2007; Industrial Commission of Ohio: Division of Mines, Oil and Gas Well Law of Ohio: Governing the Drilling, Mapping and Plugging of Wells in Coal Bearing Townships, (Columbus, Ohio: The F. J. Heer Printing Co., 1917); and Matthew James Magdic, “Assessment of Soil Properties in Proximity to Abandoned Oil Wells using Remote Sensing and Clay X-ray Analysis, Wood County, Ohio,” M.A. thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2016. 136 Ibid. 137 Tait, 150, 155, and 157. 138 Ibid., 155. 40
oil men and companies had moved on. The residents were also able to exert some level of control
over industry to protect themselves and the environment to make their town a better and safer
place to live while reaping the benefits of industry like natural gas lights in their homes.
The Beginnings of the Petroleum Industry in Ohio
About 500,000,000 years before Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well in Titusville,
Pennsylvania the process by which petroleum is created began.139 When Ohio was covered by a
large inland sea, sand and shale were deposited and when organisms died they became trapped in
the sedimentary rock.140 Over time heat, pressure, and bacteria turned the organic remains into
petroleum reservoirs.141 Within these reservoirs natural gas would rise to the top and salt water
would sink to the bottom.142 It was the pressure of the gas on top of the oil that caused the oil to shoot from the well in such an impressive manner (Figure 2.1). However, before it began bursting from the ground like a volcanic eruption—“with no warning, there was a deafening roar and the well erupted like a volcano: first mud, then gas, oil and rocks shooting hundreds of feet in the air”—it seeped out on the surface where there were fractures and faults in the bedrock.143
Initially the oil was seen as an oddity by most people and, for the people of Wood County,
natural gas was a nuisance because it made drilling water wells difficult.144
In the 1850s, whale oil was beginning to run out as the right whales had been hunted
almost to extinction and the quest for a new oil source was on.145 Whale oil was primarily used
139 Lopez. 140 Ibid.; and “Bedrock Geology of Ohio,” Ohio History Central, accessed December 3, 2017, http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Bedrock_Geology_of_Ohio. 141 Lopez. 142 Ibid. 143 Knowles, 34; and Lopez. 144 Ibid. 145 Lopez. 41
Figure 2.1: Joseph Garn, Well No. 9, Helena, Ohio (In Carole Damschroder, Gibsonburg, Ohio, 269).
42
for illumination, so many of the early attempts to find a new source consisted of distilling
different materials into kerosene. Abraham Gessner distilled kerosene from coal, and Samuel
Kier was the first to distill kerosene from petroleum.146 And the rush to find more petroleum
began. Edwin Drake (1819–1880) drilled the first oil well using the spring pole method on the
banks of a river where oil seepages floated on the surface of the water and he reached oil at
sixty-nine feet on August 27, 1859.147 The first wells after Drake’s went up near it because the
area was known to have “pay sands” beneath it. Where petroleum was found towns “exploded
into being,” because the process of producing oil required more than just the team of the driller
and the tool dresser.148 Hundreds of teamsters were needed to move equipment and the barrels of oil. There were also tank builders, rig builders, barrel makers (often in the form of stave factories), barge operators, nitroglycerin shooters, boarding houses, and many more.149
By the mid-1880s, the Pennsylvania fields were dried up. The proliferation of wells in
close proximity to one another destroyed the pressure of the field—the natural gas was released
and there was nothing left to force the oil to the surface—the same thing occurred in the Lima-
Indiana field in the early 1900s and during the Morrow County, Ohio boom in the 1960s.150
Drillers and other workers connected to the oil and gas industry migrated to Ohio, California,
Kansas, and beyond in their search for the elusive black gold (Figure 2.2).151 Edward Orton,
Ohio’s state geologist and a professor at the Ohio State University, did not believe that any oil
146 Ibid.; and Tait, xv–xvi. 147 Lopez; and Tait, xiii. 148 Lopez. 149 Ibid.; and Paul Adomites, “Teamsters and Oil Scouts: Two Valuable (But Short- Lived) Occupations in the Early Days of Pennsylvania Oil,” Oil-Industry History 10, no. 1 (2009): 38–39. 150 Lopez. 151 Ibid.; Knowles, 23–27 and 44; and Tait, xiv. 43
Figure 2.2: Major Migrations of Oil Men (In Samuel W. Tait, Jr., The Wildcatter, xiv).
44 could exist in the Trenton limestone.152 He was wrong, and because he was wrong about that no one would believe him when he told them that oil and gas were not unlimited resources.153 No one thought to test Orton’s hypothesis about the presence or lack thereof of oil in the Trenton formation until 1884 when gas was found in Bucyrus and investors became more interested in the region.154 The natural gas seepages in Findlay attracted oil men to Northwest Ohio.
Oil was discovered in Northwest Ohio a year later on May 19, 1885, by Benjamin Faroe, a Lima businessman, after he went on an excursion to Findlay. He saw the wealth and growth there and wanted his town to prosper in the same way.155 He put down a well for natural gas, but he hit oil instead. This first well flowed at a rate of 200 barrels per day for a brief time after it was shot with nitroglycerin.156 A well is shot with nitroglycerine in the form of several 4-foot- long torpedoes to fracture rock walls that might be closing a smaller oil reservoir off from a larger one. This was an early form of the fracking technology that is such a contentious issue today.157 This practice was used on old or slow wells in an attempt to boost production.158 After
Faroe’s success another company went wildcatting to see if Faroe’s well was just a fluke; they found greater quantities of oil.159 Thus, the oil boom began in Northwest Ohio; it lasted longer than the natural gas boom, and by 1886 there would be 250 oil wells.160
152 Lopez. 153 Ibid. 154 Ibid. 155 Ibid.; and John Adams Bownocker, The Occurrence and Exploitation of Petroleum and Natural Gas in Ohio (Springfield, Ohio: Springfield Publishing Company, 1903), 50–51. 156 Ibid. 157 Paul Adomites, “The First Frackers—Shooting Oil Wells with Nitroglycerin Torpedoes,” Oil-Industry History 12, no. 1 (2001): 129. 158 Ibid, and Lopez. 159 Lopez. 160 Ibid. 45
Oil was found in Wood County in late 1886 through late 1887.161 In comparison to the
Lima wells, Wood County’s wells were gushers. The Fulton well came in at 500 barrels a day, and in September 1887, three wells came in at over 10,000 barrels per day. Even at fifteen cents a barrel these wells were profitable, and they were even more so when the price of oil increased.
Around known fields ramshackle towns were thrown up.162 These towns consisted mostly of men from Pennsylvania that had left their families behind and there was very little organized government or law enforcement agencies.163 The combination of young men far from home with money in their pockets, and very little law enforcement resulted in towns that hosted a proliferation of saloons and brothels. Some of these boom towns would even incorporate to keep county and township authorities out. Incorporated cities can pass ordinances that supersede county or township rules. Towns may also incorporate to avoid being annexed by a neighboring municipality. These incorporated municipalities also have greater power when it comes to obtaining federal funding or water rights.
Gibsonburg
However, not all oil towns were places of ill repute. The village of Gibsonburg is located in Sandusky County, a place with a name that comes from the Wyandot and Huron peoples, Sa- un-dos-tee, which meant cold water.164 It is not a county that is generally associated with petroleum or with the Lima-Indiana field, but the western part of the county was located on the edge of the field (Figures 2.3–2.4). The county was surveyed in 1819 and 1820 and early
161 Ibid.; and Bownocker, 55–65. 162 Lopez. 163 Ibid. 164 C. Gene Long, Conquering the Great Black Swamp: Jackson Township, Sandusky County, Ohio; A History of Jackson Township’s First 150 Years (Fremont, Ohio: Engler Printing, 2001), 1. 46
Figure 2.3: Outline Map of Ohio: Oil and Gas Fields (In Charles A. Whiteshot, The Oil Well Driller, 932).
47
Figure 2.4: Oil producing Regions of Sandusky County (Green areas = oil producing regions, orange = small pockets of oil, red square = the Kirkbride) Henry Hughes, Map of SanduskyCounty, Ohio . Oil regions added by Kirsten Stricker with data from John Adams Bownocker, The Occurrence and Exploitation of Petroleum and Natural Gas in Ohio, 71–76. 48
settlers were warned not to go west of the Sandusky River “as it was nearly impenetrable and it
was mostly swamp and filled with mosquitoes and wild animals.”165 There were cases of children dying from mosquito bites.166 The swamps were gradually drained and the land was
converted into agricultural land. The discovery of oil and natural gas in the 1880s and 1890s in
the region brought natural gas into Sandusky’s homes where it replaced candles and
fireplaces.167
Gibsonburg, Ohio was founded by Brigadier General William Harvey Gibson (1821–
1894) of Tiffin in 1871, and it was incorporated less than a decade later.168 In 1880 the new town
had more than 500 inhabitants. This number would double by 1890, and it would double again
by the turn of the century.169 Oil was not discovered until 1887, meaning that the town’s
incorporation was not an attempt to keep the regional authorities at bay.170 During the seven
years since its incorporation the town had only grown to 600 inhabitants.171 It was oil and gas
that sparked the town’s growth. The Gibsonburg Derrick claimed that how oil was discovered in
the town was already being forgotten less than twenty years after it happened.
The Derrick argued that a man named A. P. Johnson should be credited with the
emergence of the oil industry at Gibsonburg. Johnson was inspired by the existing oil fields in
Wood County, and he “saw the possibilities for Gibsonburg in case oil could be found.” Johnson
approached the Zorn-Horning Company who, reportedly, wanted natural gas for their
165 Ibid., 3. 166 Ibid., 5. 167 Ibid., 32–33. 168 Gibsonburg Derrick, 4–5. 169 Ibid., 5. 170 Ibid., 6. 171 Ibid. 49 creamery.172 Johnson also presented the prospect of gas and oil to the village council, and they
“looked upon it favorably.”173 The council provided $500 towards the venture while the Zorn-
Horning Company supplied the rest of the funds.174 If gas or oil was found, it was agreed that the village would be refunded and, if it was a dry hole, the town would be “the loser.”175 The first well was drilled near the Zorn-Horning Company’s creamery and it was completed in August
1887.176 It was a good gas well and “arrangements were made as soon as possible to have men come from Pennsylvania who knew their business.”177 When the gas was lit “a feeling of good cheer went up from every heart, as the whole town waited breathlessly for the result. It was glorious news, and the entire population, almost, turned out to play and rejoice and give thanks under the gas light. It was a time for rejoicing.”178 The third well, completed in November 1887, came in at 600 barrels of oil per day. By February 1888, five wells had been completed.179 The two men who drilled those first five wells settled down in Gibsonburg rather than leaving to open up new fields.180 Census data suggests that many oil workers in Gibsonburg lived with their families and they owned or rented their homes rather than living as boarders. In 1900, 164 men listed their occupation as being related to the oil industry. Another thirty-six men were teamsters, an industry that was closely related to the oil industry as they were needed to transport barrels of oil. And sixty-nine men listed their occupation as laborer without a specified industry. At a
172 Ibid.; and Gibsonburg, Ohio. Collection of papers. Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums at Spiegel Grove. Fremont, Ohio. 173 Gibsonburg Derrick, 6. 174 Ibid. 175 Ibid. 176 Ibid. 177 Ibid. 178 Ibid. 179 Ibid., 7. 180 Ibid. 50 minimum, 28.57% of Gibsonburg’s working male population were involved in the oil industry
(Figure 2.5). The 164 workers were more likely to have moved to Ohio from another state when compared with the general population, but they were less likely to have emigrated from another country (Figures 2.6–2.7). The oil workers were no more likely or less likely to be boarders in the town’s several boarding houses or hotel (Figures 2.8–2.9). Most of the oil workers were married and living with family. If they were married, they were most often found living with family There were only seventeen workers who were married or unmarried and not living with family (Figure 2.10).
After those first five wells were completed, the town came to the attention of oil companies and leases were snatched up and “the town was full of ‘oil men,’ as they were called by the natives, while, the oil men called the natives ‘Yellow Hammers,’ ” which appears to be an insult, a reference to inbreeding.181 The town’s inhabitants soon began to invest in the business and some fortunes were made.182 Many of the towns “architecturally significant” homes were built with oil money including the Neiset home. 183 A. B. Hughes moved to Gibsonburg in 1893 where he was active in the oil industry and “was rated as one of the most successful operators the field had.”184 William H. Swartz was born in Pennsylvania where he started working in the oil fields after graduating high school.185 He worked in those fields from 1889 until he received employment as a driller in Rising Sun, Ohio, in 1893.186 He became a shooter for the Bradford
181 Ibid. 182 Ibid. 183 Box 37, Ohio Historic Preservation Office: Northwest Ohio Office, Center for Archival Collections, Ohio. 184 Gibsonburg Derrick, 68. 185 Ibid., 48. 186 Ibid. 51
5 77 Lime Oil Teamster 2 164 Storekeeper 26 Craftsman Hospitality / Food 20 Railroad 3 7 Law Medicine Education Laborer (general) 69 Religious 36 Electrician Livery 12 Farmer 8 28 7 7 Unemployed 49 54 Other
Figure 2.5: Gibsonburg Employment in 1900 for Workers. 52
400 343 350
300
250
200 150 119 Gen. Pop. 100 77 64 Oil Workers 50 25 9 7 6 21 7 0
Figure 2.6: Birthplace of U.S.-Born Workers in Gibsonburg, 1900.
60
50 48
40
30 Gen. Pop 20 14 Oil Workers
10 6 3 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 0
Figure 2.7: Birthplace of Foreign-Born Workers in Gibsonburg, 1900. 53
Boarders 74 12%
Renters / Homeowners 524 88% Figure 2.8: Living Accommodations of Gibsonburg’s Workers, 1900.
Boarders, 19, 12%
Renters / Homeowners, 145, 88% Figure 2.9: Living Accommodations of Gibsonburg’s Oil Workers, 1900.
22
Married, living w/family 16 Married, not living 1 w/family Unmarried, not living w/family Unmarried, living w/family
125
Figure 2.10: Oil Workers, Marital Status and Living Arrangements, Gibsonburg, 1900. 54
Glycerine Company, and in 1897 and 1899 he was sent to Gibsonburg, where he remained
(Figure 2.11).187 Swartz was “recognized as a competent and trustworthy person to handle the
deadly explosive.”188 Many other prominent residents were involved in the oil industry including
A. B. Levier, H. C. Garn, I. P. Harden, George A. Kirsch, A. M. Flint, whose Flint Oil Company
met “with unprecedent success,” and others.189 The Derrick wrote that the largest well in
Sandusky county was the “largest well ever struck in this country.”190 The Kirkbride gusher
struck oil on November 15, 1894, four miles west and one mile south of the town, and it “is said
to have been the second largest well on this continent and was good for 40,000 barrels,” but before the well was brought under control it was thought that 10,000 barrels were lost (Figure
2.12). 191 Over the first thirty days of production the well produced about 7,000 barrels per day;
that was all the pipeline could handle.192
The Gas War
The excitement of the boom was the same, but the culture of the town was not. Nor was it
entirely unique. Helena attempted to enact similar measures to protect themselves and the
environment from the dangers of the industry. The citizens of Helena filed an injunction against
those who were attempting to drill wells within the limits of the village.193 They argued that
drilling endangered their property.194 Helena would ultimately fail, and the drilling would
resume
187 Ibid. 188 Ibid. 189 Ibid., 28, 30, 45, 69, and 72. 190 Ibid., 8. 191 Ibid. 192 Ibid. 193 GD, May 1, 1890, p4c5. 194 Ibid. 55
Figure 2.11: Will Swartz and His Shooting Wagon (In Gibsonburg Derrick, Gibsonburg, Ohio, 48). 56
Figure 2.12: The Kirkbride Gusher (In Gibsonburg Derrick, Gibsonburg, Ohio, 7). 57
(Figure 2.13).195 They were unincorporated and as such were unable to pass any laws or ordinances to shape their village.
Gibsonburg’s residents were successful partially because the town was incorporated, and the village council possessed the ability to write and pass laws that were then enforced by the town’s marshals. On June 4, 1890, Ordinance No. 39 passed, and it was an “ordinance to prohibit the drilling of gas or oil wells.”196 The ordinance made it unlawful for any gas or oil well to be drilled within the 300 feet of any dwelling house in the village. 197 It was also illegal to employ someone to sink a well within the specified distance of a home. 198 If someone violated the law they would be fined anywhere between $25 and $300 or imprisoned for 30–90 days, or both. 199
The ordinance was published on the front page of the Derrick.
However, Ordinance No. 39 did not pass smoothly. It sparked what the Derrick called the
“Gibsonburg Gas War.”200 The second time that the ordinance was published in the Derrick on
June 19, 1890 it was accompanied by a short article that recorded the discontent of some residents.201 On the previous Monday, a petition with 138 signatures for the repeal of the ordinance was presented to the council.202 J. C. Smith, part of Smith & Dohn the lime manufacturers, had circulated the petition.203 Smith & Dohn had a gas well near their lime kiln for manufacturing purposes and the Derrick claimed that they were desirous of another.204 Those
195 GD, June 26, 1890, p4c4. 196 GD, June 4, 1890, p4c5. 197 Ibid. 198 Ibid. 199 Ibid. Adjusting for inflation $25 in 1890 is equivalent to $647.92 in 2017 and $300 in 1890 is equivalent to $7,775.10 in 2017. 200 GD, July 10, 1890, p1c3–4. 201 GD, June 19, 1890, p4c3. 202 Ibid. 203 Ibid. 204 Ibid. 58
Figure 2.13: Helena, Ohio Taken About 1890. Photograph taken from top of an oil derrick in the vacant lot just south of the house now occupied by the Howard Miller family. Thirteen oil derricks are visible, Box 17, Folder #7 “Helena,” LH PH 1, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums at Spiegel Grove. Fremont, Ohio. 59
who were in favor of the ordinance cited “the dangers resulting from the drill for oil and gas
wells in a village.”205 Jesse Stephens proposed a compromise; only allowing wells drilled for
manufacturing purposes. J. C. Smith and others were content with this compromise.206 No decision was rendered that night.
In the next week’s paper, on June 26, 1890, a section titled “The Listener” was included on the front page. It appeared that “The Listener” went about town eavesdropping and then included the interesting information they overheard in the column. The fourth and longest section dealt with “the all-absorbing gas question which is, has been, and perhaps will be for many days to come, the uppermost thought in the minds of many citizens.”207 The writer noticed that a
person’s opinion was very much affected by how drilling impacted their life.208 The Derrick
claimed that the best way to address the oil and gas situation, and all other public questions, was
to remove all bias and “consider impartially what measures would most benefit the most
people.”209 Despite the espousal of impartial consideration of the matter the column finished
thus: “Speaking of drilling in a village reminds The Listener of a remark made by a well
informed man a few day ago. He said: ‘I would not give fifty cents for a lot in Prairie Depot to be
used as a residence, since the town is full of oil wells.’ ”210 Then he looked to Helena where, at
this point, the injunction against drilling was still in place—“ ‘We’ve got enough drilling in
Helena,’ say the citizens of that village: However, oil operations might never be carried on so
extensively in Gibsonburg as to injure the town. Again, such might be the case.”211
205 Ibid. 206 Ibid. 207 GD, June 26, 1890, p1c4. 208 Ibid. 209 Ibid. 210 Ibid. 211 Ibid. (emphasis in the original). 60
Only a week later, in early July 1890, Findlay’s council was discussing passing a similar
ordinance, and the first case under the Gibsonburg law appeared.212 J. C. Smith and F. W. Dohn,
the owners of a lime kiln, were accused of drilling an oil or gas well within 300 feet of a
home.213 Not only were they drilling with 300 feet of a home, they were within 300 feet of four
homes and the drilling was “an annoyance to the citizens in the vicinity of the well.”214 It was easy to see how a well could be an annoyance when one considers that shortly after some wells were shot “the well began to flow oil, scattering the spray over about 25 acres of land.”215 Both
men pled “not guilty” and they “demanded separate trials,” which was overruled.216
The full record of the trial did not appear until the next week’s paper where it filled two
full columns on the front page. J. C. Smith was sworn in and he testified to the fact that he and
his partner F. W. Dohn were looking for natural gas to use with their lime kilns.217 Peter Bowser,
a Gibsonburg native and the owner of the Gibsonburg Natural Gas and Oil Company, was sworn
in for the defense. He argued that oil and gas were good for the town because the population had
doubled since the discovery of oil, and business interests had grown proportionately.218 He also
claimed that he did not notice an “unpleasant smell from oil wells; he like[d] it.”219 Dr. Johnston
said much the same. He even said that he thought “the smell of crude oil [was] wholesome and
healthy … The breathing of gas at wells is not injurious: would be dangerous in a room when not
212 GD, July 3, 1890, p4c5. 213 Ibid. 214 Ibid. 215 GD, July 17, 1890, p4c4. 216 GD, July 4, 1890, p4c5. 217 GS, July 10, 1890, p1c2. 218 Ibid. Bowser’s exact role with the Gibsonburg Natural Gas and Oil Company is unclear because the document has been damaged. 219 Ibid. 61
mixed with air.”220 Dr. Johnston had helped circulate the petition to repeal the ordinance. C. D.
Walters, of the Pennsylvania oil fields, claimed the oil was healthy and was used for medicinal
purposes.221 Many of the witnesses testified to the same; gas was good for business and property
values; it was healthy; and it was easily controlled. The plaintiff’s attorneys raised no objections
because this information dealt with whether or not Ordinance No. 39 was desired by residents
not whether or not it had been violated. The case came to a close and Mayor Turley “bound the
defendants over to common pleas court, required them to give bonds in the sum of $500
each.”222
However, this was not the end of the matter. Two weeks later the Derrick published a
response to columns published in the Findlay Republican and the North Baltimore Times. The
Findlay Republican accused the people of Gibsonburg of selfishness and likened them to those
who “were known to rise from their churches and pursue an innocent canine to its hiding hole
and return without reward.”223 The North Baltimore Times responded to the Republican by
accusing the oil men of selfishness, because they were inconveniencing people just to earn a few
dollars.224 The Derrick presented these with little comment except to note that both towns were
oil towns and they were of very different opinions and that “the fight will go on.”225 The “Gas
Question” or the “Gibsonburg Gas War” was mentioned one more time. The Derrick published a
column from the Fremont News that was “written by a Gibsonburg correspondent.”226 The correspondent came down firmly on the side of repealing the ordinance. The Derrick accused the
220 Ibid. 221 Ibid. 222 Ibid., p1c3. 223 GD, July 25, 1890, p1c4. 224 Ibid. 225 Ibid. 226 GD, August 7, 1890, p4c4. 62
correspondent of pathos and cowardice. The Gibsonburg Gas War was over and the area within
the village limits would remain mostly free of oil and gas wells. This stands in contrast to what is
seen in North Baltimore at the same time (Figure 2.14).
It was not only the lack of oil and gas wells within the city limits that set Gibsonburg apart from other oil towns. The town placed a heavy emphasis on peace, law and order, and temperance, something that might be hard to find in other oil towns. This is something that the town was aware of and of which they were proud: it “has been claimed that the oil field employees are generally of a disorderly nature, but their conduct in this field, with a very few exceptions, has been gentlemanly and credible, and no town in Ohio, under similar circumstances, can equal Gibsonburg for its obedience to law and order.”227 There was also
seemingly little crime in the village if the Derrick’s column about the first real burglary was
credible; “A Real Burglary. Gibsonburg is now up with the other towns in the matter of
burglaries, as we were honored (?) with the presence of real, live burglars last Friday.”228 Despite
their apparent pride in being “up with the other towns,” Ordinance No. 42 passed on September
16, 1890.229 This law laid out the punishments for doing anything that disturbed the peace, was a
nuisance, or corrupted the youth, such as obstructing streets, bathing in public places,
intoxication, gambling, keeping a house of ill repute, shooting firearms, cruelty to animals,
playing ball in the city streets, throwing refuse matter in the streets, and other offenses.230 The
restrictions on intoxication and intoxicating beverages was interesting to note given the town’s
227 GD, July 31, 1890, p4c4. 228 GD, April 24, 1890, p4c4 229 GD, September 18, 1890, p1c4. 230 Ibid., p1c2–4. 63
Figure 2.14: Oil Derricks Once Covered This Field in North Baltimore, Ohio (In “Oil Drilling in Northwest Ohio,” TB, April 25, 2011). 64
preternatural interest in the number of saloons in the country, the county, and neighboring towns.
The Derrick repeatedly published those numbers on the front page near the top of the first column. “Wood county has 89 saloons” is the first item read in one paper.231 On the town’s six
secret societies the Independent Order of Good Templars (IOGT) was one; it had thirty-three members.232 They also had a Juvenile Temple for children.233 These were temperance groups
that worked to promote temperance in their community. Some of the other secret societies also
promoted the temperance movement.
It was the IOGT, however, that hosted Mrs. J. C. Stone of Cleveland to give a series of
lectures in the town.234 Stone was a temperance speaker who was “convincing and entertaining”
and the Derrick claimed that everyone should attend her lectures.235 Stone gave three lectures on
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 9–11, at the town hall and at the Evangelical church. To
encourage attendance the Derrick published a review that appeared in the Bowling Green Daily
Sentinel regarding her recent lectures in Bowling Green.236 The following week the Derrick
reported that Stone had addressed “a large and very attentive audience” at her lectures.237 Her
words “strengthened and encouraged” the “band of temperance workers in Gibsonburg.”238
There was a public collection that amounted to $13.15 and it was all “appropriated to temperance
231 GD, July 10, 1890, p1c2. 232 GD, January 1, 1891, p2c3. The other secret societies were Grand Army of the Republic with 40 members, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows with 60 members, Daughters of Rebekah with 37 members, Knights of Pythias had 42 members, and Patriotic Order Sons of America with 50 members. 233 Ibid. 234 GD, October 9, 1890, p4c4. 235 GD, October 2, 1890, p4c2. 236 GD, October 9, 1890, p4c4. 237 GD, October 16, 1890, p4c4. 238 Ibid. 65
work.”239 These actions speak to Gibsonburg’s reform-minded residents. They were eager to
organize and attend lectures, and to donate money for causes they saw as improving their town
and society at large whether it be temperance or restricting industry to protect themselves.
Gibsonburg After 1890
The petroleum industry continued to be a great asset to the town until the bottom dropped out of the petroleum market after Spindletop, but the industry did not completely disappear until the 1920s. Other businesses sprang up and went under over the next century in Gibsonburg.
Organizations formed and were disbanded. Residents founded groups to beautify their city and to educate their members and the children of the village. They attended churches, supported their village and county parks, and did what they could to keep their town safe even if some actions came too late to prevent some disasters
Volunteer Fire Department
The Gibsonburg Volunteer Fire Department (GVFD) came into being after a meeting in
the M. G. Veh Furniture store on February 15, 1898.240 The organization came too late to prevent
or adequately battle two fires that devasted the town in 1895 and 1897; it was those disastrous
fires that provided the impetus to form a volunteer fire department (VFD) for the village. In 1895
“Sandusky County’s thriving oil metropolis had a most disastrous fire that destroyed several
acres of businesses on the north side of Madison Street.”241 The fire broke out around midnight
on October 23, 1895 in the rear of a grocery store; the town’s hand engine and residents could do
little to contain the blaze.242 Assistance arrived from Toledo and helped save the south side of
239 Ibid. $13.15 in 1890 amounts to $354.21 in 2017. 240 Carole A. Damschroder, ed., Gibsonburg, Ohio: Area History (Gibsonburg, Ohio Area History Group, 1996), 181–182. 241 Ibid. 242 Ibid., 181. 66
the street.243 Damages amounted to $100,000, but most of the property was insured.244 Almost exactly two years later another fire occurred, this one started in some hay and straw and destroyed much of the south side of Madison Street.245 The Toledo Fire Department arrived
within thirty-four minutes, but the damage had already been done; most of the businesses were
“complete losses” with damages estimated at around $75,000.246
Since their inception the VFD have carried out fundraising to purchase new, modern
equipment, from engines to uniforms. In 1928 they purchased a brand new LaFrance Pumper that
continues to be used for parades and special events in the village. They also upgraded their alert
system from a whistle that would “raise the dead” and could be heard in Toledo on a clear day to
a Plectron alert system in 1974, personal pagers in 1990, and a countywide 911 emergency
system in 1992.247 The number of members has ranged from 14–114 over the years and in 1986
the department was limited to fifty members because outfitting each fireman was costly.248 They accepted their first female firefighter in 1985—Gina Reino.249 Helena allowed female members
as early as 1974, because they were available during the day when most of the men were at
work.250
Agriculture
When the Great Black Swamp was drained the land was converted to agriculture, an
industry that continues to thrive. Agriculture in the area was productive and common in
243 Ibid. 244 Ibid. $100,000 in 1895 amounts to 2,527, 010.31 in 2017. 245 Ibid., 182. 246 Ibid. $75,000 in 1897 amounts to 1,935,157.89 in 2017. 247 Ibid., 188. 248 Ibid., 187. 249 Ibid. 250 Ibid., 276. 67
Sandusky County where the soil is made up of Hoytville, Mermill, and Millsdale soil.251 Each
type is fertile, but they lack adequate drainage leading the installation of to tile drainage in fields
to achieve maximum yields.252 The common crops in the area are corn and soybeans. Sugar
beets, processing tomatoes, cucumbers, and cabbage are also grown in the area, but they are less
common. These crops are processed at the Great Lakes Sugar Company, Gibsonburg Canning
Company, H. J. Heinz, and Hirshel Canning. Cucumbers are graded by the farmers and trucked
further afield for processing.
From the settling of Sandusky County until the Second World War farmers often tilled
80–120 acres and kept livestock, but with the mechanization boom following the war some farms
reached the size of 3,000 acres.253 Some farmers without livestock sought additional employment
in Gibsonburg in the lime plants.254 The price of the land peaked in 1980 when it was nearly
$3,000 per acre, but by 1994 a farmer would be lucky to receive half that amount.255 Many
farmers were pushed out of business later in the 1980s as prices declined.256 In their wake
minifarms appeared.257 These farms were usually under 10 acres and had a stable for horses or a
few animals. Land was also sold for new construction. In 1993 within three miles of a home
north of Helena twelve new homes were built.258 Some farmers, however, remained successful,
the Brubaker farm had been in the same family since 1834. In the 1890s 120 acres of their farm
251 Ibid., 177. 252 Ibid. 253 Ibid. 254 Ibid., 177–178. 255 Ibid., 178. 256 Ibid. 257 Ibid. 258 Ibid., 179. 68
was leased to the Standard Oil Company and produced 1,000 barrels per month for seven
years.259 Today the farm raises sheep, grain, and truck crops.260
Churches
In 1890 Gibsonburg’s resident readily attended lectures held at the town hell and the
Evangelical church. Since then new denominations have come to the village. Over the years
Gibsonburg has been home for several different churches. Some have closed their doors in recent
years while others have grown. Some churches even split into separate congregations following
disagreement. The Faith United Methodist church was founded in 1873.261 They originally met
in members’ homes before temporarily moving to a log church in 1845.262 In 1878 they moved
across the street into an old school; they expanded and improved it many times before 1928.263
They redecorated the church in 1948 shortly before a fire completely destroyed the building in
1955.264 Following the fire plans were made to construct a new building. They raised over
$100,000 and broke ground on October 7, 1956.265 In 1994 the congregation had 254 members
and sponsored scout groups, a dance group, and the Sandusky County Board of Elections, among
others.266
The Garfield Memorial Church of Christ cam next; it was founded in 1881. While the
church once thrived, only a small group of members remained to carry out its work.267
Washington Chapel Methodist Church was another church whose membership declined. It dated
259 Ibid., 180. 260 Ibid. 261 Ibid., 164. 262 Ibid. 263 Ibid. 264 Ibid. 265 Ibid., 165. 266 Bid. 267 Ibid., 168–169. 69 back from before 1858, which was when its new church was built.268 During the 1960s membership declined until the church was ultimately closed in 1970.269 The physical building burned down in the 1980s; this was an act of vandalism.270
The Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was founded in 1887 by a group of
German Lutherans who moved to the area because of the oil boom.271 The church started with fourteen families and increased to 175; many of whom continued to speak German and retained
German customs.272 Some families left the church because they wanted more services in English; while their pleas were not met at the time all services were held in English to combat dwindling attendance by 1950.273 In 1956 the church gained 130 members who transferred from the First
English Lutheran Church; membership was peaking and a new church was built.274
The First English Lutheran Church was founded in 1913 by ninety people who left the
German speaking Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. They tried for three years to get more than one English mass a month, but when that failed, they were granted a peaceable dismissal to found an English Lutheran Church.275 When the German was no longer used in the Zion
Evangelical Lutheran Church the two congregations attempted a reconciliation.276 They failed; their offer was rejected by the Zion congregation.277 A reconciliation was attempted again in
1953, but it also failed.278
268 Ibid., 173, 269 Ibid. 270 Ibid. 271 Ibid., 173 272 Ibid., 175. 273 Ibid. 274 Ibid., 174. 275 Ibid., 166. 276 Ibid., 167. 277 Ibid. 278 Ibid. 70
St. Michael’s Catholic Church was the next Christian church to appear. It was founded in
1892 as a result of the efforts of sixty families that began as early as 1883.279 By 1994 those sixty
families had increased to over 500. They originally used an old Lutheran church, but in 1904 the
cornerstone was laid for the present church. In 1926 a brick parsonage was added.280 They had
hoped to build a school, but the dream never materialized. Following the Second Vatican
Council the church was redecorated and the high altar was removed.281
Trinity United Methodist Church was the first church founded after the turn of the
century. It was founded and dedicated in 1914.282 It could hold as many as 200 people. At the
time there were 133 members and that number slowly increased over the years to reach over 400
in 1969.283 In 1927 the church was redecorated and a heating system was installed.284 The name was changed in 1946 to the Trinity Evangelical United Brethren Church.285 Its name was
changed again in 1968 to its present name when the denominations merged.286 In 1957 they
beganwork on an addition to house education and fellowship rooms.287
The final church, the Nazarene Church, was founded in 1950 with nine members.288 They
met in an apartment and in a remodeled machine shop before they purchased their first
permanent building in 1955.289 Membership grew during the 1980s, but in the later part of the
279 Ibid., 169. 280 Ibid. 281 Ibid., 170. 282 Ibid., 172. 283 Ibid. 284 Ibid. 285 Ibid. 286 Ibid. 287 Ibid. 288 Ibid., 168. 289 Ibid. 71
decade their membership declined and in June 1990 the church closed due to low attendance and
lack of financial support.290 The property became an apartment complex.291
Parks and Recreation
Outdoor recreation has been present and popular in Gibsonburg almost as long as the
churches. They had a semi-professional baseball team that played in a stadium located where
White Star Quarry now stands.292 When the quarry was excavated the team was forced to move;
but the move did not go smoothly. The team held fundraisers to pay for a grandstand, but there
was thievery and dishonesty on two separate occasions.293 The third attempt at fundraising was
successful, but before it took place the team found that they could play on the floor of White Star
Quarry.294 Spectators would line the limestone walls.295
While Gibsonburg no longer has a semi-professional baseball team, its parks are still used for children’s baseball and softball, and men’s slow-pitch softball. Many of those fields are located in Williams Park on the northeast edge of town. The village purchased the land in 1914 when it was known as Twin Lakes because of the two water-filled stone quarries.296 The eastern
lake has since been filled in after it was used as a junkyard.297 The western lake was used for
swimming and fishing during the summer and ice skating in the winter.298 It was not an official
park, but it was treated like one. Semiprofessional and pick up football games took place on the
east end of the property where there was also a pile of waste lime that was used for sledding
290 Ibid., 169. 291 Ibid., 292 Ibid., 220. 293 Ibid. 294 Ibid. 295 Ibid. 296 Ibid. 297 Ibid. 298 Ibid., 222. 72 during the winter.299 The Williams family who lived across the street found the pile of waste lime to be ugly and they had it removed.300 They transplanted trees to the site; “each tree had to be carried to the park on the backs of Bob [Williams] and his father, Ernest [Williams].”301 Inez
Williams started an iris planting program.302 In the 1940s the family’s efforts to beautify the city were acknowledged when the park was dedicated. Another park sits near the center of town. It was the site of the old elementary school. It was filled with a playground, a park shelter, and baseball and t-ball fields. For many years it was the site of the town’s Homecoming Celebration, but that has since moved to Williams Park.
These parks were managed by a volunteer park board until the early 1980s when the
Williams Park quarry was closed to swimming and fishing.303 The village council took over maintenance of the parks and baseball and softball leagues oversaw the upkeep of the playing fields.304 In the early 1990s Mayor Lois Larson re-established the park board because the parks had greatly deteriorated during the previous decade.305
Less than a mile from the city center is a county park. The Sandusky County Park District
(SCPD) was established in 1973. The Pfizer company donated an unused quarry to the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) who leased it to the SCPD.306 Ownership was transferred to the SCPD in 1991.307 During the intervening years that land had been developed for outdoor recreation including swimming, fishing, scuba diving, hiking, and more. The SCPD
299 Ibid., 221. 300 Ibid. 301 Ibid. 302 Ibid. 303 Ibid., 225. 304 Ibid. 305 Ibid. 306 Ibid. 307 Ibid. 73
continues to expand each year as it purchases more land, much of which is used as wildlife and nature preserves.
By 1901 the Ohio boom died down with the news of the Spindletop well near Beaumont,
Texas, that came in at 100,000 barrels per day.308 The price per barrel had slowly risen from
fifteen cents to forty-two cents over the previous decade.309 After Spindletop the price
plummeted to three cents per barrel and none of the Ohio wells could pay their way.310 The
barrels were worth more than the oil that was put in them.311 In 1909 there were 4,200 wells in
Sandusky county with an average production of less than a single barrel a day, a phenomenon
that became known in the oil industry as a “stripper well.”312 The boom days slowly slipped
from memory, a not uncommon occurrence in boom towns in the Lima-Indiana field.313 This
leaves modern visitors in doubt that Gibsonburg ever was an oil town at all. Samuel W. Tait, Jr.
of Montpelier, Indiana said that it is claimed that the Lima-Indiana field produced 500,000,000
barrels of oil from the day it opened until the 1930s and, if that is true, 100,000,000 barrels were
produced within 35 miles of Montpelier. He wrote that it “is hard to believe nowadays, for I can
go from the town in four directions on state highways without seeing a single indication that an
oil well was ever drilled thereabouts.”314 Gibsonburg was not left in such dire straits; remnants of
the oil industry can still be seen if one knows where to look—an oil pump here and a wooden oil
storage tank there. It could be the fact that the boom was quiet that allowed it to slip from
memory so easily. Not all oil towns flared brilliantly only for their flame to flicker out shortly
308 Lopez. 309 Ibid. 310 Ibid.; and TB, June 19, 1995, p10. 311 TB, June 19, 1995, p10. 312 Long, 105; and Lopez. 313 Tait, 156. 314 Ibid., 156–157. 74 thereafter. Some, like Gibsonburg, prospered, while the residents of the town remained in control of the situation and refused to be bullied by large corporations with vast amounts of money. The residents successfully protected their town from the risks posed by the oil industry while other towns like Helena or Findlay did not. 75
CHAPTER THREE: SPIN AND NOPE; SANDUSKY COUNTY RESIDENTS GO HEAD-
TO-HEAD WITH HAZARDOUS INDUSTRIAL WASTE
Following Gibsonburg’s Gas War of 1890 evidence of their environmentalism fades away. The people remain invested in their local parks and every park levee passes, which the park systems uses to acquire more land that are often used as preserves, but their efforts are small, possessing only local significance.315 It is not until nearly a century later when Sandusky
County became home to disposal sites for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that the residents turn out to resist an industry that they believed would prove harmful to their town, their community, and their health. In 1983 it was proposed that a closed lime plant be sold and used as a lime plant that burned waste oil that was contaminated with PCBs as fuel. Many of
Gibsonburg’s residents opposed this plan, but there were those, particularly those effected by the closing of the plant in 1983, who desired the plant to be reopened so the jobs could return to the area. Gibsonburg’s residents were not the only ones mobilizing in response to the disposal of
PCBs in or near their communities. Vickery, Ohio, which is located in northeastern Sandusky
County, is home to Class I injection wells—wells that are permitted to dispose of toxic waste below the lowest Underground Source of Drinking Water (USDW). Gibsonburg residents founded a group called Stop PCB Incineration Now (SPIN) which outlasted its original purpose while Vickery residents organized Northern Ohioans for the Protection of the Environment
(NOPE). The efforts of Gibsonburg’s residents resisting the sale of the plant for waste disposal, despite the fact that the methods were deemed safe by the U. S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), revealed the persistence of the environmental spirit that drove residents in 1890 to ban the drilling for oil and gas in their town.
315 Mary Ellen Stricker, interviewed by Kirsten Stricker at Helena, Ohio, June 24, 2019. 76
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a group of man-man organic chemicals that were originally
derived from coal tar and they vary from a thin, light-colored oil to a black waxy solid; they also range in their levels of toxicity.316 PCBs belong to a broad family of chlorinated hydrocarbons,
which include insecticides like chlorophenothane (DDT) and organic solvents like chloroform.317
Production of them began in 1929, but the production of PCBs was banned in 1979.318 While in
production they were used for electrical, heat transfer, and hydraulic equipment; plasticizers in
paint, rubber, and plastic, because of their electrical insulating properties, chemical stability, high
boiling point, and non-flammability.319 Today they are recognized as a probable human
carcinogen associated with cancer, and other, adverse reactions in the endocrinal, immune,
reproductive, neuropsychological systems even at low levels of exposure.320
In 1976 the Toxic Substances Control Act was passed; this gave the U. S. EPA the
authority to require reporting, record-keeping, testing-requirements, and restrictions related to toxic substances, including PCBs, asbestos, radon, and lead-based paint.321 In 1978 the EPA took
control of the regulations for waste disposal of PCBs, which included destruction by incineration
316 “Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), United States Environmental Protection Agency, accessed June 19, 2019, https://www.epa.gov/pcbs/learn-about-polychlorinated-biphenyls- pcbs#main-content. 317 Ibid. 318 Ibid. 319 Ibid. Products containing PCBs include transformers and capacitors, oil used in motors, voltage regulators, fluorescent light ballasts, oil-based paint, adhesives, and tapes, plastics, floor finishes, cable insulation, and others. 320 Ibid.; and The State of Ohio v. Monsanto Co., Solutia, Inc., and Pharmacia, LLC, Common Pleas Court of Hamilton County, Ohio, General Division, A18001237, 2018. 321 “Polychlorinated Biphenyls.” 77
or disposal into approved landfills.322 Disposal regulations apply to all substances that include
fifty parts per million (ppm).323 However, PCB-contaminated waste oil is subject to regulations
at any level of contamination.324 On an international level PCBs were banned by the United
Nations at the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which went into effect in
2004.
PCBs are a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP). They do not readily break down once
they are in the environment.325 They move between the air, water, and soil where they can be
carried over great distances; they have been found in snow and rain far from where they were
released in to the environment.326 They accumulate in leaves of agricultural crops and in small
organisms and fish meaning that they are ingested by whomever or whatever ingests the plants or
organisms.327 One way that PCBs can be removed is through wetlands. The microorganisms that
live among the root systems of wetland plants are very good at breaking down ”poisonous
organic compounds such as benzene, toluene and PCBs into harmless elements that the
microorganisms and plants can digest.”328 Other companies developed a disposal method that
was portable so that the PCBs did not need to be transported.329 As of 2019, there were a
322 “EPA Bans PCB Manufacture; Phases Out Uses,” United States Environmental Protection Agency, April 19, 1979, https://archive.epa.gov/epa/aboutepa/epa-bans-pcb- manufacture-phases-out-uses.html. 323 Ibid. 324 Ibid. 325 “Polychlorinated Biphenyls.” 326 Ibid. 327 Ibid. 328 John Mathews, Rainwater and Land Development: Ohio’s Standards for Stormwater Management, Land Development and Urban Stream Protection, 3rd ed. (Columbus: Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Soil and Water Conservation, 2006), 29. 329 Mary Mauch Younker to Delbert L. Latta, July 30, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, Delbert L. Latta Congressional Papers, Center for Archival Collections, Ohio, hereafter cited as DLL MS. 78
minimum of 114 approved PCB storage and disposal facilities in the United States which include
four incinerators—two in Texas, one in Oklahoma, and one in Utah.330
Production of new materials using PCBs was prohibited in the United States, but large
electrical equipment was allowed to be serviced under carefully controlled conditions for the life
of the machines because replacement costs would be prohibitive.331 The EPA phased out existing
PCB in electrical equipment in railroads and public transport systems, paints, mining machinery,
and other uses, and they stopped using waste oil for dust control because other methods were
available that were cost-effective.332 While PCBs were no longer manufactured in the United
States they could still be released into the environment through other means. These include
poorly maintained hazardous waste sites, improper and illegal dumping, disposal of consumer
products containing PCB into landfills not designed to handle hazardous waste, or through the
burning of some PCB-containing waste in industrial or municipal incinerators.333 If the waste contained over 500 ppm of PCBs they have to be incinerated.334 Incineration of the waste is safer
than storing it in dumpsites, but guarantees cannot be made about the possible risks even if the
process was made as safe as possible.335 Some industrial sites planned to use their facilities for disposal of PCBs and for production of other goods. That is what was planned for the Pfizer
Plant in Gibsonburg, Ohio.
330 “List of Approved Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Commercial Storage and Disposal Facilities,” United States Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jun 19, 2019, https://www.epa.gov/pcbs/list-approved-polychlorinated-biphenyl-pcb-commercial-storage-and- disposal-facilities. 331 “EPA Bans PCB Manufacture.” 332 Ibid. 333 Ibid. 334 Terry Fuchs, “Pfizer’s Eyed As PCB Disposal Site,” FNM, May 2, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 335 “Village Against PCB Burning,” PCNH, June 1, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 79
Pfizer Plant
In the 1890s, oil and gas were not Gibsonburg’s only form of industry. It was predated and outlived by the lime industry. J. C. Smith and F. W. Dohn, owners of a lime kiln, were at the center of Gibsonburg’s first case for Ordinance No. 39. They were desirous of natural gas to use with their lime kilns. The 1900 U. S. Census revealed that the lime industry only employed a fraction of the number of men employed by the oil and gas industry. While the oil and gas industry began to disappear after Spindletop, the lime industry grew. Gibsonburg Lime Products
Corporation was started by the Zorn family and other prominent families in the Gibsonburg area.336 In 1927 they began producing hydrated finish lime in a plant located to the northwest of
town.337 This process began with eight shaft kilns, used to burn the stone into lime, and modern
hydrating and milling equipment.338 While the company was successful early on it failed during
the Great Depression and in 1933 the William H. Price family purchased a majority stock in the
company.339 The plant started up again under the guidance of William H. Price and his son,
Sanford G. Price (Figure 3.1). They would later be joined by Walter M. Barbee, William H.
Price’s son-in-law.340 Production capacity doubled when eight more shaft kilns were added in the
late 1930s and early 1940s.341 Production capacity was doubled again in 1952 when a rotary kiln
was installed; another was added in the late 1950s.342 The company thrived under the guidance
of the Price family and the use of dolomite lime in steeling making, which saved steel
336 Damschroder, 140. 337 Ibid. 338 Ibid. 339 Ibid. 340 Ibid. 341 Ibid., 141. 342 Ibid. 80
Figure 3.1: Gibsonburg Lime Products Co., 1937 (In Damschroder, Gibsonburg, Ohio, 140). 81
manufacturers millions on furnace repairs.343 In 1962 the Price family purchased the business of
Woodville Lime Products Corporation (but not the actual facilities) and in 1963 they purchased
the facilities and business of the Kelly Island Corporation.344 This prosperity attracted the
attention of the Charles Pfizer Corporation, a company founded in 1849 that was best known for
producing organic chemicals, drugs, and pharmaceuticals.345 When William H. Price sold the
company it had 158 employees making the largest independently owned and operated lime plant
in the United States.346 The Pfizer corporation purchased the business on December 31, 1964.347
Operations ceased when the plant was closed on January 31, 1983 (Figure 3.2).348 After the plant
was closed efforts were made to reopen the plant or to sell it. Proposed uses included reopening
it as a lime plant, but it would use waste oil contaminated with PCBs as fuel. The Village of
Gibsonburg wanted the site to be donated to the village so it could be used as an industrial park
to benefit the city.
The Pfizer plant closed after efforts to sell the plant failed; it had been for sale for a year.
A foreign buyer was lined up, but the sale broke down in the final stages of negotiation.349 This
was in part due to the $15 million lawsuit against the plant for air pollution.350 Some sixty
residents of Gibsonburg had filed suit in November 1982 claiming that the dust and gas from the
343 Ibid. 344 Ibid. 345 Ibid. 346 “Philanthropist Operated Family Limestone Firm,” TB, June 23, 2002, https://www.toledoblade.com/news/deaths/2002/06/23/Philanthropist-operated-family-limestone- firm/stories/200206230033. 347 Damschroder, 141. 348 Ibid.; and Terry Fuchs, “Pfizer’s Eyed As PCB Disposal Site,” FNM, May 2, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. Damshroder writes that the plant closed on January 31, 1982. 349 Terry Fuchs, “Pfizer’s Eyed As PCB Disposal Site,” FNM, May 2, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 350 Ibid. 82
Figure 3.2: By-gone Days! Pfizer Inc. Is No Longer in Use, 1994 (In Damschroder, Gibsonburg, Ohio, 141). 83
plant had damaged their property and adversely affected their health.351 James Stricker, Jr., a
lifelong resident of Gibsonburg and Helena, said that when he was growing up in the 1970s, the
rain could coat everything in a thin paste of lime that was difficult to remove if the rain was
coming from the right direction..352 The Ohio EPA’s tests revealed problematic levels of
microparticulate matter in the air. The results of these rested led to a ban on industrial
construction for the whole of Sandusky County.353 The plant failed to meet air pollution
standards by 1982; if it had not been for Pfizer the county would be “somewhat pristine.”354
Federal law required that there be 75 micrograms or less of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide,
ozone, lead, and nitrous oxide per cubic meter of air.355 When particulate levels were tested near
the Pfizer plant there were 100 mg per cubic meter; levels which could aggravate health and
respiratory problems.356 As a result sanctions were issued against the county. These sanctions
could have involved loss of federal highway or sewer funds, but the only one imposed was a ban
on industrial construction in the county; this ban only applied to the construction of new air
polluters, not the reopening of existing industrial facilities.357 Sandusky was one of nine Ohio
counties that failed to meet the U. S. EPA’s required levels in 1982.358
351 Ibid. 352 James Joseph Stricker, Jr, interviewed by Kirsten Stricker at Helena, Ohio, July 6, 2019. 353 Delbert L. Latta to Lee Thomas, February 1, 1985, Box 190, Folder 24, “Village of Gibsonburg, EPA Ban on Industrial Construction,” Box 190, Folder 24, “Village of Gibsonburg, EPA Ban on Industrial Construction,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 354 Cyndi Metzger, “Building Ban Shouldn’t Hurt Area Economy; EPA Official,” FNM, January 9, 1984, Box 190, Folder 24, “Village of Gibsonburg, EPA Ban on Industrial Construction,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 355 Ibid. 356 Ibid. 357 Ibid.; Mark Fisher, “U. S. EPA Won’t Block Pfizer Plant Reopening,” FNM, May 10, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects, 1959–1988, DLL MS. 358 Metzger, “Building Ban,” FNM, January 9, 1984, Box 190, Folder 24, “Village of Gibsonburg, EPA Ban on Industrial Construction,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 84
Following the closure of the plant negotiations began with a Columbus-based company,
the Gibsonburg Lime Company (GLC), represented by Jeffrey McNealy.359 This company
proposed to take in waste oils from utility companies and burn them along with coal to fuel the
kilns; the heat of the kilns would destroy the PCBs hence rendering the process safe.360 The
waste oils that would be taken in could contain up to 30,000 ppm of PCBs. McNealy said that a
disposal site was greatly needed in Ohio because none currently existed in the state; at the time
hazardous materials had to be transported to Texas, Arkansas, or Alabama.361 He also made it
clear that the lime plant would not reopen unless it could use waste oils as part of their fuel
because it would not be “economically feasible to simply produce lime.”362 The company would
be paid to take in the waste-oils that they would then use to save money on other fuel sources.363
These waste oils would make up 25% of the fuel and coal would make up the remaining 75% of fuel used.364 To use PCB-contaminated oils as fuel the company needed approval from the Ohio
EPA and the U. S. EPA and those permits could take up to a year to obtain.365 McNealy planned
to attend the Village Council meeting on Monday, May 2, 1983 to answer any questions the
public had regarding the project. The Village Council meeting and the accompanying article in
the Fremont News Messenger appeared to be the first time that the project and the proposal was
brought to the public’s attention.
359 Fuchs, “PCB Disposal Site,” FNM, May 2, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 360 Ibid. 361 Ibid. 362 Ibid. 363 Terry Fuchs, “PCB Test in Gibsonburg in July?” FNM, May 6, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 364 David Souder to William D. Ruckelshaus, May 19, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 365 Fuchs, “PCB Disposal Site,” FNM, May 2, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 85
The News Messenger ran a story on May 6 revealing more information. At the time GLC planned on running a two week “test burn” in June or July and having the plant fully operational by November.366 A “test burn” was essential for acquiring permits to operate permanently.
During the two-week period the facility would be continuously monitored for PCBs escaping
through the smokestacks into the air; if PCBs were detected at any point the operation would be
shut down immediately.367 While the plant was located mere yards from the city limit, residents
in Gibsonburg and Madison Township were unlikely to have any meaningful input.368 According
to Bill Muno, an U. S. EPA employee in Chicago, federal law did not require public hearings
before permits were issued to burn PCBs as a commercial enterprise or as a test.369 As a result of
the “large amount of public concern” in Gibsonburg the U. S. EPA would hold a public comment
period for thirty days and if public interest levels were high they would consider holding a public
hearing.370 Muno said that there were no hearings at the three other PCB incineration sites in the
country there being one in Texas, one in Arkansas, and one in the process of acquiring permits in
Chicago.371 The two incinerators that were operational in 1983 received approval from the U. S.
EPA in 1981.372 If the plant acquired permits for permanent operation it would have been the first site in the country using PCB-contaminated waste as fuel; the other three sites being
366 Fuchs, “PCB Test,” FNM, May 6, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 367 Ibid. 368 Ibid. 369 Ibid. 370 Ibid. 371 Ibid. 372 “EPA Incinerator Approvals to Speed PCB Disposal,” United States Environmental Protection Agency, February 10, 1981, https://archive.epa.gov/epa/aboutepa/epa-incinerator- approvals-speed-pcb-disposal.html. 86 disposal sites only.373 The Ohio EPA was open to holding meetings, but they could only address concerns about air pollution, not toxic waste because federal laws not state laws regulated
PCBs.374
Following this information, the residents of Gibsonburg chose to act quickly. On the evening of Friday, May 6, 1983 a group of residents met in the village’s fire hall.375 Over the following weekend several wrote letters to Congressman Delbert L. Latta (R) expressing their concern about GLC’s proposal. There were at least seven letters penned during the following four days.376 Some of the writers were concerned that the plant’s operations would serve only as a cover for the burning of PCBs, and others expressed concern for the city’s water supply; “The quarry is 65 [feet] deep very close to our deep well water supply.”377 Others were worried about the safety of the plant more broadly, “Even with approved EPA permits and monitoring of manufacturing processes such items as a act of God, mechanical failure and accidents involving transportation and storage of PCB contaminated oils cannot be controlled.”378 Others were worried about real-estate values, air quality, their ability to control their own homes, and financial devastation should PCBs prove harmful to their health.379 Paul Aldrich brought up the
373 Village Against PCB Burning,” PCNH, June 1, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 374 Fuchs, “PCB Test,” FNM, May 6, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 375 Terry Fuchs, “Gibsonburg Residents Seek Support in Anti-PCB Fight,” FNM, May 9, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 376 There may have been more, but dates were obscured on some manuscripts. 377 Urban Haslinger to Delbert L. Latta, May 7, 1983; and Juanita Haslinger to Delbert L. Latta, May 7, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 378 Richard R. Arquette to Delbert L. Latta, May 7, 1983 Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 379 Janet Diab to Delbert L. Latta, May 7, 1983; Carol Arquette to Delbert L. Latta May 7, 1983; and M. A. Gregory to Delbert L. Latta, May 10, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 87 possibility of ecological disaster; they did “not want another Love Canal.”380 Some writers used pathos; “my children came home from school crying” while others use logos; “I watched you help in Weston after the tornado.”381 It was also in these initial letters that the first mention of the public’s opinion carrying weight appeared— “Mr. McNeeley of Gibsonburg Lime stated publicly that if the people of our Community did not want hazardous waste in our Community they would not bring it in.”382 This resolution was shared with the residents at the Village
Council meeting on May 2 and it remained public knowledge throughout the next several months.383
Following their meeting and their independently penned letters the group took to canvassing the village on May 10. They wanted to learn whether other residents were concerned about the proposed plans for the Pfizer plant.384 The group also carried petitions that stated that residents who signed the petition feared the possible risks and health hazards of burning PCBs and did not wish GLC to purchase the plant.385 The group also requested a public meeting with
McNealy, which was scheduled for the following Monday.386 A representative of the United
States Department of Agriculture was also present to answer questions concerning the effects
380 Paul Aldrich to Delbert L. Latta, May 8, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. For information about Love Canal tragedy see Eckardt C. Beck. “The Love Canal Tragedy,” United States Environmental Protection Agency, January 1979, https://archive.epa.gov/epa/aboutepa/love-canal-tragedy.html and Adeline Levine, Love Canal: Science, Politics, and People (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1982). 381 Carol Arquette to Delbert L. Latta, May 7, 1983; and Paul Aldrich to Delbert L. Latta, May 8, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 382 Carol Arquette to Delbert L. Latta, May 7, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 383 “Tough PCB Questions Must Be Answered,” FNM, May 18, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 384 Fuchs, “Residents Seek Support,” FNM, May 9, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 385 Ibid. 386 Ibid. 88 that burning PCBs could have on the surrounding area’s food production including agriculture, the Kraft Heinz Plant in Fremont, Ohio, and the Gibsonburg Canning Company.387 McNealy assured those present that the PCBs would be completely destroyed during the industrial process.
PCBs disintegrate at around 2,400–2,500 degrees Fahrenheit; during the lime refining process kilns reach 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.388
Nearly 400 people attended the public meeting on Monday, May 16, 1983 and most of those present opposed the proposal to use PCB-contaminated waste oils as fuel.389 McNealy and
Trish Klahr, an environmental scientist with the Ohio EPA, were present to address the crowd.
Klahr assured those present that “there are no proven serious short-term hazards of PCB exposure.”390 It was banned, but was still in use leading her to conclude that it is not one of the
“worse chemicals on the market today.”391 As for the long-term effects, she said those were still being studied and “there is no proof” that exposure leads to cancer.392 To reassure those concerned about the transportation and the storage of the contaminated oils McNealy revealed
GLC’s plans to prevent leakage; the chemicals would be transported in tanker trucks, unloaded in a closed facility, and stored in sealed steel tanks.393 Some residents who attended the meeting raised concerns about the byproducts of burning PCBs, namely the dangerous chemicals that result when PCBs are not burned at high enough temperatures.394 McNealy assured the residents
387 Ibid. 388 “Possible PCB Use Being Protested,” TB, May 10, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 389 Terry Fuchs, “Just How Safe Is It To Burn PCBs, Ask Village Officials,” FNM, May 17, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 390 Ibid. 391 Ibid. 392 Ibid. 393 Ibid. 394 Ibid. 89
that the kilns would be carefully monitored and that he would not be proposing the plan if he felt
that there was any risks involved.395
The group who requested the meeting and gathered signatures for their petition—who
took on the name of Concerned Citizens of Gibsonburg—took the meeting as an opportunity to
present McNealy with the more than 500 signatures—which represented about half of
Gibsonburg’s adult population—that they had gathered during the preceding week.396 Sue
Christy, speaking for the group, said that they were not against the reopening of the plant for
lime manufacturing, only the use of PCB-contaminates as fuel.397 The group was supported by
the Vickery-based Northern Ohioans for the Protection of the Environment (NOPE) headed by
William Warner.398 NOPE was organized to oppose the Ohio Liquid Disposal (OLD) Toxic
Waste Dump in Vickery; whom Warner suspected was involved with GLC.399 As of May 17,
1983, Concerned Citizens of Gibsonburg had no further plans to oppose the company or their plans.400
At that point at least one resident thought that the proposal might be a slippery slope,
based on what happened in Vickery: “They say they will only start out with one or two storage
tanks. But that is what happened in … Vickery, Ohio … They just got more and more and look
what’s happened.”401 There were several other lime manufacturing facilities within a short
395 Ibid. 396 Ibid.; “PCB Plant Concerns Gibsonburg’s Residents,” TAT, May 18, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 397 Fuchs, “How Safe Is It,” FNM, May 17, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 398 Ibid. 399 Ibid. 400 Ibid. 401 “PCB Plant Concerns,” TAT, May 18, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 90
distance of Gibsonburg, if a dual role as waste disposal site and lime manufacturing facility was
profitable, there would be nothing to prevent those other facilities from also switching over from
coal to waste oils and coal.402 With the only other PCB incineration facilities being located in
Texas and Arkansas the hazardous waste disposal industry could prove very economically
lucrative for the region. 403 The business would also employ many of the men who lost their jobs with the Pfizer plant closed; the village, its businesses, and the school district would all benefit from the increased tax revenue.404 118 people were laid off when the plant closed and the school
district lost more than $200,000 in taxes per year.405
At the May 16 meeting Gibsonburg’s mayor, David Souder, said that further letters were
sent to the U. S. EPA and the Ohio EPA requesting public forums.406 Several days later he wrote
a letter to William D. Ruckhelshaus, the Director of the U. S. EPA, requesting assistance. In the
letter he noted that PCBs were singled our for regulation in the Toxic Substances Control Act of
1976 presumably because of the risks that PCBs posed to human health, which is where the
problem lay.407 He said that some residents saw this facility as a threat to their well-being and
requested that that the U. S. EPA hold a public forum so that Gibsonburg’s residents could be
properly informed about possible risks rather than relying on “out dated, conflicting, and/or
402 “PCB Questions,” FNM, May 18, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS; and Mr. and Mrs. Grover Swartzlander to Delbert L. Latta, June 2, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 403 Ibid. 404 Ibid.; and Terry Fuchs, “Former Pfizer Workers Would Be First Hired Back,” FNM, June 20, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 405 “Possible PCB Use,” TB, May 10, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 406 Fuchs, “How Safe Is It,” FNM, May 17, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 407 David Souder to William D. Ruchkelshaus, May 19, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 91
[misinformation].”408 While awaiting a response from the U. S. EPA regarding a public forum another meeting was arranged that would feature an unbiased third party providing information about the disposal of hazardous materials and answering questions. The city arranged for Dr.
Gary F. Bennett, a professor of biochemical engineering at the University of Toledo to speak to the community on Tuesday, May 30, 1983.409 Bennett acted as a hazardous waste consultant for the Toledo Fire Department, the U. S. EPA, and edited an international hazardous materials journal.410 His presentation, which was attended by over 100 residents, lasted for two and a half hours.411 Following the meeting Mayor David Souder was still concerned about the process. He was positive that the PCBs would be destroyed during the incineration process, but was worried about environmental contamination through accidental spills.412 He said that if the groundwater was ruined then the town would be ruined as well.413 The city paid for the lecture from the general fund. Prior to this meeting the group of residents who had formed the Concerned
Citizens of Gibsonburg had disbanded to form a new group called Stop PCB Incineration Now
(SPIN).414 Many of the members were the same and the new group vowed to fight the GLC’s proposal.
408 Ibid. 409 Terry Fuchs, “Gibsonburg Hires Expert to Explain PCBs,” FNM, May 26, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 410 Ibid. 411 “Village Against PCB Burning,” PCNH, June 1, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 412 Ibid. 413 Ibid. 414 Fuchs, “Expert to Explain PCBs,” FNM, May 26, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 92
The day following the May 16 meeting, the Sandusky County Health Department held a
meeting that was attended by several Gibsonburg residents.415 A few days after that meeting
Kenneth Kerik, Health Commissioner of Sandusky County, addressed a letter to Robert H.
Maynard, the director of the Ohio EPA. Kerik acknowledged that many facts were needed to
make rational decisions regarding the relative safety of the proposal; some of which would not
be available until after a test burn.416 The Board of Health had six particular items that concerned
them about the proposal; escalation of particulate levels; the lack of state and local laws or
regulations governing waste oils; the protection of ground water supplies; the supervision of the
facility; the lack of local input or control over the issuance of hazardous waste disposal permits;
and the fact that the region had become sensitized to the problems related to PCBs because of the
recent problems involving the disposal facility in Vickery.417 The Board of Health requested that
it be allowed to review and comment on future permits and that public hearings be held so that
the community would have proper channels to express their feelings and concerns.418 In June
James Perry, Sandusky County Commissioner, requested a meeting with Representative Latta.
Perry communicated his desire for more stringent control on hazardous waste disposal in
Sandusky County.419
Throughout the month of May letters continued to be sent to Congressman Latta. Some
contained general disapproval for the proposal while others, such as that penned by Scott Pertner,
415 “Proposal to Build PCB Plant Worries Gibsonburg Residents,” BGST, May 18, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 416 Kenneth Kerik to Robert Maynard, May 19, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 417 Ibid. 418 Ibid. 419 Delbert L. Latta to James Perry, June 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 93
made it clear that they did not trust the Ohio or U. S. EPA in light of the recent events in
Vickery.420 Some letters demonstrated the persistent concern about the possible health effects of
burning PCBs: “My husband worked in the lime and they closed that plant down and now they
want to bring something much worse than lime. He has enough illnesses now without getting
anymore.”421 Barbara Good’s May 16, 1983 letter said that Sandusky County already had more
than its fair share of hazardous waste and demonstrated distrust for official statements from the
Ohio and U. S. EPA: “[EPA] said [OLD] in Vickery would be safe … and look what happened.
Behind our backs [OLD] was dumping toxic waste with [PCBs] in open pits contaminating
people terribly.”422 Larry and Jennifer Lynn also mention the facilities in Vickery, but they also
mention of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Plant as a potential threat to the environment.423 They also
pointed out that PCB incineration was only practiced in three other locations; they ask how it can be that such a safe practice was so rare.424 Representative Latta was not idle in the face of these
letters. He reached out to Lee L. Verstandig, the acting Administrator of the U. S. EPA, and
Robert H. Maynard to request investigations into the matter and reports on the investigations.425
Valdas V. Adamkus, the Regional Administrator of the U. S. EPA, replied to
Representative Latta’s request. Adamkus was also contacted by McNealy and they discussed the
420 Georgia Pertner to Delbert L. Latta, May 13, 1983, Susan Bricker to Delbert L. Latta, May 18, 1983, and Scott Pertner to Delbert L. Latta, May 15, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 421 Beryl Jean Shoemaker to Delbert L. Latta, May 17, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 422 Barbara Good to Delbert L. Latta, May 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 423 Larry Lynn and Jennifer Lynn to Delbert L. Latta, May 19, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 424 Ibid. 425 Delbert L. Latta to Robert H. Maynard, June 16, 1983, and Delbert L. Latta to Lee L. Verstandig, May 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 94
test burn. All of the procedures for approval of PCB test burns were published in the March 30,
1983 Federal Register; Adamkus included those pages in his letter to Latta. All test burns had to
be carried out in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations 40 CFR 761, which were
designed to protect health and the environment.426 At the time the U. S. EPA had not received an
official application from GLC, but they were interested in participating in a test burn—indicating
likely approval of future applications—as data collected would be added to their database.427
Adamkus assured Representative Latta that when an application for a test burn was received they would make sure that public meetings were held and that every possible measure would be taken to protect public health and the environment.428 Copies of this response were mailed to
Gibsonburg residents who had written letters.429 Representative Latta also promised that he
would “pose the question about the effect of the plant on aquified [sic] water and the problems
associated with a fire in the PCB’s.”430 Joan Southard, Administrative Assistant to
Representative Latta and Representative Latta met with concerned residents on June 21, 1983, to
discuss the issue of burning and storing PCBs.431
Many of Gibsonburg’s residents were not reassured by the U. S. EPA’s assurances. One
family who had attended every informational meeting was still worried about the monitoring.
They noted that after the initial test burn the facility would only be checked once a year and the
426 Valdas V. Adamkus to Delbert L. Latta, June 8, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 427 Ibid. 428 Ibid. 429 Ibid.; Delbert L. Latta to Paula Fahle, June 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 430 Delbert L. Latta to Paula Fahle, June 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 431 John Callihan to Joan Southard, June 29, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 95
checks would be carried out by employees of GLC; they felt that this level of oversight would be
woefully inadequate to assure the health and the environment of the town and the entire
county.432 They asked Representative Latta if he would wish to live within a mile of this plant.
The Swartzlands acknowledged the jobs that reopening of the plant would supply, but when “you
consider what little is really known about the effects of PCB is it really worth what few jobs it
would supply?”433 Some citizens clearly did not think the jobs were worth the possible risks, but
they would respond positively if the plant were reopened strictly for the production of lime.434
McNealy said that the company would need a couple of dozen workers for the two week test
burn, but would need fifty to sixty workers when production began and within a year they would
increase those numbers to closer to 100 depending on the strength of the lime market.435 Of their
plan to hire the former Pfizer workers McNealy said, “They’re the best operators around.”436 On
June 25, 1983, he met with nearly ninety of the former Pfizer employees to discuss the jobs associated with the plant reopening; their “response to his proposal was positive.”437
Opposition to the proposal in Gibsonburg and Madison Township spread beyond the
members of SPIN. In the June 6, 1983 Village Council meeting the officials of Madison
Township revealed that they would “object to the proposal to incinerate PCBs … unless
guaranteed of certain controls.”438 Their planned opposition preceded responses to the letters
432 Mr. and Mrs. Grover Swartzland to Delbert L. Latta, June 2, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 433 Ibid. 434 Ibid. 435 Fuchs, “First Hired Back,” FNM, June 20, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 436 Ibid. 437 “SPIN Members to Discuss Legal Expenses,” FNM, June 28, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 438 Terry Fuchs, “Township Officials Oppose Plan to Incinerate PCBs,” FNM, June 7, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 96 sent to the Ohio EPA and the U. S. EPA. Their resolution was meant to maintain control over what they saw as a situation that had the potential to become hazardous if it was improperly handled.439 If PCBs were burned at insufficient temperatures they result in dioxin, a highly toxic
POP which was capable of causing birth defects and mutations.440 The township trustees would only withdraw their opposition if they were given “the right to on-site inspection, tests as [they] deem appropriate, and the right to cease waste disposal operations as [they] see necessary to maintain public safety.”441 These conditions would remedy what the trustees saw as improper monitoring by GLC, the Ohio EPA, and the U. S. EPA.442 McNealy said that it was certainly possibly to include the trustees’ conditions in the plant’s operating permits.443
Village officials were present at the township meeting, but they did not join the Madison
Township officials in their resolution. Mayor Souder said that he would ask the village council to make a move at their meeting on the following Monday, June 13, 1983.444 The village council members present did express their opinions, which revealed the outcome of that meeting. Roscoe
Jensen said that he had no reservations about supporting the project; Greg Gerwin said that his only concern was about possible negative impacts on real estate values due to the average person not being well informed about PCBs; James Clark, James Vallance, and Lewis Bork said they
439 Ibid. 440 Janice Dymond to Delbert L. Latta, July 15, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS and “Dioxins and Their Effects on Human Health,” World Health Organization, October 4, 2016, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact- sheets/detail/dioxins-and-their-effects-on-human-health. 441 Fuchs, “Officials Oppose Plan,” FNM, June 7, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS; “PCB Burning Plan Meets Opposition,” Toledo Blade, June 7, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 442 Fuchs, “Officials Oppose Plan,” FNM, June 7, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 443 Ibid. 444 Ibid. 97
would like more information—such as the results of a test burn—before they were called upon to
make a decision one way or the other; and Robert Schell was not present.445 Some Gibsonburg
residents also desired more information before making a decision; “We would have to see a lot
more scientific data showing that PCB’s have no direct effect on the [chromosomes], and
[DNA], which might result in mutation, birth defects, retardation and other illness.”446 Mayor
Souder said that he was primarily concerned about the transportation and storage of the
contaminated materials and the possibilities of a spill that would impact the village’s water
supply.447 Souder was not alone in is concern about contamination of groundwater: “experts
believe these PCBs might eventually find their way into Lake Erie with disastrous
consequences.”448 Richard Potts, the chairman of SPIN, also mentioned Lake Erie in a letter to
Representative Latta, he points out that possible pollution could set back the progress that had
been made in recent years removing the pollution from the lake.449 Souder reminded those present that the plant was technically outside of the village limits meaning that he nor the council had de facto jurisdiction over its operations regardless of resolutions.450
In mid-June the members of SPIN began seeking legal help to fight the proposed use of
the former Pfizer plant. They spent the final two weeks of June distributing 2,000 fliers
containing information about the dangers of PCBs, and meeting with lawyers who specialized in
445 Ibid. 446 Ida Murray and Rosalie Murray to Delbert L. Latta, June 12, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 447 Ibid. 448 John Callihan to Joan Southard, June 29, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 449 Richard Potts to Delbert L. Latta, July 5, 1983, Letter 1, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 450 Ibid. 98
environmental cases who had been referred to them by other environmental groups in Ohio.451
They shared the legal advice they received with their group at their June 29, 1983 meeting. One
lawyer said that the operations could be blocked if the PCB incineration could be proven to be
harmful.452 When McNealy, also an environmental lawyer, heard this he said he had never heard
of an injunction against operations that had not even begun.453 While discussing their upcoming
legal appointments during their June 15, 1983 meeting they also discussed fundraising options as
their treasury only contained $53 and they would need more to retain legal aid. Richard Potts,
chairman of SPIN, also said that he wrote a letter of E. T. Pratt, Jr., the chairman of Pfizer,
asking Pfizer not to sell the plant to a company who would use it to incinerate PCB-contaminated
waste, point out that the motto used in Pfizer’s television commercials was, “One of your
partners in health care.”454
Money and fundraising discussions continued at SPIN’s next meeting. By June 30 the group had nearly enough money to retain a Columbus lawyer, Peter Precario, but they would need to continue fundraising because future legal fees would amount to $5,000–$15,000.455
Precario said that he would fight the proposal administratively meaning that he would go through
451 Terry Fuchs, “Gibsonburg Group Seeks Legal Help in Pfizer Fight,” FNM, June 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS; “SPIN Discuss Legal Expenses,” FNM, June 28, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 452 Fuchs, “Gibsonburg Group Seeks Legal Help,” FNM, June 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 453 Ibid. 454 Ibid. 455 Terry Fuchs, “SPIN Seeks More Funds to Its Continue Fight,” FNM, June 30, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS; Terry Fuchs, “PCB Vote Ruled Out,” FNM, July 12, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 99
state and federal agencies to put roadblocks in GLC’s way.456 Another lawyer the SPIN members
met with said that he would initiate court action against the company.457 That approach would
have been “more direct and troublefree [sic] and expensive,” but the group did not feel like they
could raise the money for that lawyer’s retainer easily, much less the final legal fees.458 Once
they retained their lawyer, Precario, sent a professional organizer to help coordinate fundraising
efforts.459 At this meeting the members said they would place SPIN signs in their yards and
would continue writing to legislators and EPA officials.460 These letters would include copies of
the petition that now had 724 signatures.461 They presented the petition and signatures Maynard
on June 28, 1983 when he was in Fremont speaking with another environmental group; he told
them that they should direct their efforts to the U. S. EPA because they regulated PCBs.462
The beginning of July brought another batch of letters to Representative Latta about the
proposed use of the plant. These letters raised concerns about the agricultural and food
processing businesses near the facility and the age of the kiln that could not meet air quality
standards while operating as a lime plant.463 They do raise a new concern regarding the geology
of the area. The plant was located on top of fractured limestone that made the area “unfavorable”
for hazardous waste disposal according to the ODNR.464 The fractured limestone would result in
spilled materials reaching the area’s aquifer in “as little as an hour” and could have the potential
456 Fuchs, “SPIN Seeks Funds,” FNM, June 30, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 457 Ibid. 458 Ibid. 459 Ibid. 460 Ibid. 461 Ibid. 462 Ibid. 463 Richard Potts to Delbert L. Latta, July 5, 1983, Letter 2, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 464 Ibid. 100
“for being the [country’s] largest Love Canal.”465 Shortly after this group of letters were mailed
to Representative Latta, he received a response from the Ohio EPA. A copy of this response was
mailed to those who had contacted him regarding the situation in recent months. Maynard, the
Director of the Ohio EPA, said that proper disposal of PCB waste was safe and that they would
not approve of disposal at the former Pfizer plant if they had any doubts about the safety of the
operation.466 He also wrote that the Ohio EPA’s rules require that they publish their
recommendation and seek public opinion; they could even hold a public meeting if one is
requested.467 Pertner argued that this was not the case because members of the community had
been in contact with the Ohio EPA and they had requested public meetings, but nothing ever
came of those requests.468
Early in July Mayor Souder approached the Sandusky County board of elections to
request that Gibsonburg and Madison Township residents be allowed to vote the on plan in
November.469 The Election Director, Janet Dorr, replied saying that she would need more
information about the issue before deciding if it would be allowed on the ballot.470 If it were
allowed on the ballot it would a non-binding resolution that would indicate whether the public
largely opposed or approved of GLC’s plan.471 Ultimately Dorr decided that the issue did not
465 Richard Potts to Delbert L. Latta, July 5, 1983, Letter 1, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 466 Robert Maynard to Delbert L. Latta, July 8, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 467 Ibid. 468 Scott Pertner to Delbert L. Latta, July 30, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 469 “PCB Burning Vote Eyed,” TAT, July 9, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 470 Ibid. 471 Ibid. 101 belong on the ballot because it would not make or change any laws.472 Placing the poll on the ballot would also restrict those who were allowed to participate. If they were not registered voters or if they were unable to vote their answer would not be counted. She suggested that
Gibsonburg hold a week-long poll at a central location.473 This would allow the village to gather the information that it wanted while giving everyone a voice regardless of voter registration status or schedule.
SPIN met at the village fire hall on July 13, 1983. Their lawyer Precario was scheduled to speak along with a group from East Liverpool, Ohio, Save Our County Committee (SOC), who fought against the construction of a hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility near them.474
About eighty people attended this meeting where Precario told them that PCBs were dangerous and they should not feel guilty about opposing the project. He also told them they were fortunate to have organized as early as they did.475 At the time he could not tell them what legal steps he would take because he had not yet seen the proposal which would be submitted by GLC to the federal and state EPAs.
Following that meeting Madison Township official James Henline revealed that they were considering spending public funds—$5,000—to support SPIN.476 They were waiting to hear back from their legal advisor, Sandusky County Prosecutor Ronald Mayle, to see if the
472 Fuchs, “PCB Vote,” FNM, July 12, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 473 “Poll On PCB-Burning Plant Urged,” CPD, July 17, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 474 Ibid.; Terry Fuchs, “Township Officials Consider Fight Against PCB Plant,” FNM, July 14, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 475 Fuchs, “Township Officials Consider Fight,” FNM, July 14, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 476 Ibid.; “EPA Wants More Details on PCB Disposal Plans,” PCNH, July 15, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 102 move was legal because the township budget was primarily supported by property taxes.477
Despite clear indication of opposition and his earlier statements McNealy filed permit requests with the necessary federal and state agencies and hoped for a test burn in September.478
However, after submitting the application on July 14, the EPA responded by saying that there ten areas on the test burn application that needed to be addressed and GLC lacked some of the answers to immediately resolve them.479 More information was added to the application the next week and Muno said that he expected the application to be approved and that a test burn in
September—preceded by a public meeting with EPA representatives—was likely given the speed of previous applications.480
Not all Gibsonburg residents were opposed to the reopening of the former Pfizer plant with the proposed use of PCB-contaminated waste oils as fuel. Many of the former Pfizer employees who were promised new jobs when the plant reopened felt positively about the developments. They organized a group, but never gave themselves a formal name.481 They were organized specifically to oppose SPIN.482 Vickie and Phillip Saam organized a meeting for
Sunday, July 17, 1983; Phillip Saam was one of the workers who lost his job when the Pfizer plant closed.483 Vickie Saam said that she and everyone she had contacted wanted the plant
477 Fuchs, “Township Officials Consider Fight,” FNM, July 14, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 478 “Poll Urged,” CPD, July 17, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 479 “EPA Wants Details,” PCNH, July 15, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 480 Terry Fuchs, “PCB Test Burn in September?” FNM, July 15, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 481 “Group Forms to Counter SPIN,” PCNH, July 19, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 482 Cyndi Metzger, “Group Organizes to Counter SPIN’s Anti-PCB Efforts,” FNM, July 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 483 Ibid. 103
reopened with or without PCBs; they wanted the GLC to stay and they believed that it would be
good for the town.484 This unnamed group’s first order of business was to prevent the Madison
Township trustees from using tax dollars to fund SPIN’s activities; “We don’t want our tax
money going for that SPIN movement, because we want jobs.”485
Later in July the “Want Jobs” group met with McNealey.486 Meanwhile SPIN arranged to
meet with State Senator Paul Pfeifer (R-Bucyrus) on July 27, 1983, and at their meeting on July
12, 1983, which was attended by village officials from Gibsonburg, Woodville, Helena, Elmore,
and Genoa, they heard from representatives from Central Ohioans to Protect the Environment,
Mansfield, Ohio. This group had successfully fought proposals to build a landfill near their
town.487 Pfeifer contacted SPIN requesting to meet with their representatives and receive a tour
of the old Pfizer facilities.488 He did not receive the tour; only the plant manager or McNealey could give the tour, and the plant manager was out of town.489 Pfiefer had received quite a few
letters and he said that when he received that many letters he took it as an opportunity to meet
with his constituents directly.490 Mary Younger, SPIN’s education director, said that SPIN asked
Senator Pfeifer to push for legislation on alternative methods for PCB disposal.491 He responded
484 Ibid. 485 Ibid. 486 “Sen. Pfeifer, SPIN To Meet,” FNM, July 27, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 487 Ibid. 488 Ibid. 489 Richard Potts to E. T. Pratt, Jr., August 1, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 490 Terry Fuchs, “Pfeifer Says He Can Help Cut Red Tape,” FNM, July 29, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 491 “Sen. Pfeifer,” FNM, July 27, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 104
by saying that he would need to study more before he would suggest anything legislative.492
While he could not help them directly, he said he could cut through some red tape for them so
that they would have access to the right people, which would also reduce SPIN’s legal costs in
the long run.493 Senator Pfeifer said the thing that concerned him the most about GLC’s proposal was that the Ohio’s Hazardous Waste Facilities Approval Board (HWFAB), which is responsible for issuing permits for waste disposal sites in Ohio, had no control over PCB disposal sites in
Ohio.494 Following their successful meeting with Pfiefer, Pertner requested a meeting for himself
and a small group of SPIN members with Representative Latta so they could obtain his support
and help.495
On August 1, Potts sent a letter to E. T. Pratt, the Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, Inc.
He laid out their concerns by detailing the amount of hazardous waste that would make its way
into the village and argued that risking the health of more than 2,600 people for fifty jobs was a
“very, very poor ratio.”496 He requested that Pfizer prevent the sale so as to provide Gibsonburg
with a future and to possibly donate the property to the state, county, or township so it could be
turned into a park or an industrial park that could house manufacturing facilities to employ
residents of the town.497 While Pfizer had no legal obligation to donate the property or refuse to
sell to anyone who wanted to incinerate PCBs, Potts pointed out that the facility was already participating in hazardous waste disposal under Pfizer’s ownership. Trucks hauling toxic waste
492 Fuchs, “Red Tape,” FNM, July 29, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 493 Ibid. 494 Ibid. 495 Scott Pertner to Delbert L. Latta, July 30, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 496 Richard Potts to E. T. Pratt, Jr., August 1, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 497 Ibid. 105 bound for Vickery were weighed on the Pfizer plant’s scales.498 Potts asked if this was true and who would be responsible in the event of an accident.499 This letter was carbon copied to other representatives of Pfizer, Inc., Senators John Glenn, Howard Metzenbaum, and Paul Pfeifer,
Representatives Latta and Dwight Wise, and Governor Richard Celeste.500 In the copy of the letter sent to Representative Latta, Potts requested that Latta reach out to Pfizer as well to help persuade the company to donate the land.501
On August 2 the Fremont News Messenger published an article by Diane Damschroder, a member of SPIN’s education committee. She reminded readers about the possible health effects of PCBs, the age of the lime kilns, and the small number of jobs provided.502 She added that people living near toxic waste incinerators often complained about the strong odor associated with the operation.503 The purpose of this article seemed to be keeping the issue in the forefront of the people’s minds.
Less than two weeks later on August 15, 1983, Madison Township’s trustees unanimously passed a resolution saying that they would “strongly oppose” hazardous waste disposal at the former Pfizer plant.504 They believed that the location of the plant would cause
“deep and irreconcilable damage” to property values as well as subjecting the surrounding area
498 Ibid. 499 Ibid. 500 Ibid. 501 Richard Potts to Delbert L. Latta, August 8, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 502 Diane Damschroder, “Voice of the People: SPIN Concerned About Health,” FNM, August 2, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 503 Ibid. 504 Board of Trustees, Madison Township, Gibsonburg, Ohio, August 15, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS; “Firm That Would Burn PCBs in Gibsonburg Scraps Plans,” CPD, August 17, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 106
to the “possibility of environmental damage” along with the “constant threat of health
hazards.”505 They also said that there was a lack of information from GLC.506 They also argued
that the few jobs it would provide would be offset by the negative repercussions in the
agricultural industry, established businesses, and on the possibility of new businesses moving to
the area in the future.507 The week before this resolution took place Pfizer officials made it
known to McNealey that they intended not to sell the plant if the township officials took a stand
against the proposed future use of the plant.508 The next day the plans to sell the lime plant were
scrapped and the termination of the plan was credited to the fierce opposition on the part of
Gibsonburg and Madison Township residents.509 Caroline Allinder, a member of SPIN, said that
the group would not disband even though they had been victorious.510
Following the resolution Fred Hilt, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, contacted
Pfizer to discuss the possibility of 438 acres being donated to the township, state, or county to be
developed as an industrial park.511 The representative that Hilt talked to was “very receptive” to
the idea, however the Pfizer official that Hilt would need to speak to was unavailable until the
following Monday.512 Ultimately, Pfizer refused to donate the land.513 Hilt said, “I think we hurt
505 Board of Trustees, Madison Township, Gibsonburg, Ohio, August 15, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 506 “PCB-Incineration Plant Ruled Out,” TB, August 17, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 507 Ibid. 508 Terry Fuchs, “Pfizer Scraps Plan to Sell Lime Plant,” August 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 509 Ibid. 510 Ibid. 511 Terry Fuchs, “Township Officials Want Land from Pfizer for Industrial Park,” FNM, August 18, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 512 Ibid. 513 Terry Fuchs, “Pfizer Won’t Donate Land; Trustees May Seek Purchase,” FNM, August 22, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 107
his feelings. He said definitely no (to donating land) unless we change our resolution, but I said
‘no way.’ ”514 Township trustees did not give up hope that the land could be turned into an
industrial park; they looked into federal grants to help them purchase the $1.6 million
property.515 The price would likely drop after Pfizer began liquidating the plant’s assets as the
price included land, buildings, and machinery.516 Donation of the land would not have been out
of character for Pfizer. When it closed in January of 1983 there was talk about turning the site
into a state park and in 1975 Pfizer donated White Star Quarry, then leased at 236 acres, to
Sandusky County; it became part of the SCPD as White Star Park.517 The village had formerly
looked at purchasing the quarry as a water reserve in 1970.518
Shortly after Pfizer’s statements about the cause behind the termination of sale
proceedings with GLC, doubts were cast on the cause. It was a “mystery” as to why the plans
were scrapped so quickly especially given the noted opposition beginning in May.519 There were many people who were still undecided about whether they supported or opposed the proposition; they were waiting for the results from the test burn scheduled for that fall.520 A few days later a
possible alternative reason for the cessation of the plans was made known. Hilt received a letter
from Pfizer stating that the plant would not be sold to GLC “because the buyer couldn’t come up
514 Ibid. 515 Ibid. 516 Ibid. 517 Fuchs, “Pfizer Scraps Plan,” August 16, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS; John Foster, “The Schedel Legacy: Life and Times of Joseph John and Marie Pauline Schedel,” Schedel Arboretum and Gardens, November 10, 2011, http://www.schedel-gardens.org/history.html. 518 Ray Garn to Delbert L. Latta, October 28, 1970, Box 190, Folder 27, “Gibsonburg Village,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 519 “Doubts Will Linger in Gibsonburg Dispute,” Fremont News Messenger, August 22, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 520 Ibid. 108
with the money.”521 The letter was written on August 12, three days before the trustees of
Madison Township made their resolution.522 Pfizer officials said that Hilt was mailed the wrong letter.523 On Friday, August 12, GLC’s financing had collapsed, but on the following Monday,
August 15, McNealey notified Pfizer that GLC had secured alternate funding form Huntington
National Bank of Columbus.524 On August 25 McNealey said that funding was secure, but it was
the “fierce opposition by Gibsonburg and township residents” that prevented the sale.525 SPIN’s
success in Gibsonburg did not spell the end of efforts to use contaminated oil waste as fuel in
lime kilns in Sandusky County or elsewhere. By 1986 the Ohio Lime Company plant in
Millersville, Ohio, seven miles south Gibsonburg, was burning PCBs as fuel.526
In the end, the land did end up in the hands of the Village of Gibsonburg, who still own it
today. How the land ended up as part of the village is unclear. In 1985 it is said that Gibsonburg
purchased the land on October 11, 1984, but in the 1984 mayor’s report it said that the land, 540
acres, was donated and became the Industrial Park Complex.527 Today, the land is not used as an
industrial complex. Little has been done to the land since its acquisition by the village. A group
of sculptors presently uses one building for metallurgy; some of their work can be found in
521 Terry Fuchs, “Cold Cash, Not Heat from Township, May Have Melted Pfizer Sale Plans,” FNM, August 25, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS 522 Ibid. 523 Ibid. 524 Ibid. 525 “Letter Says Lack of Funding Doomed Pfizer Plant Sale,” PCNH, August 26, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 526 Box 194, Folder 17, “Ohio Lime Company,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 527 David Souder to Lee Thomas, February 1, 1985, Box 190, Folder 24, “Village of Gibsonburg, EPA Ban on Industrial Construction,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS; and “Village of Gibsonburg Mayor’s Report for 1984, January 14, 1985, Box 190, Folder 24, “Village of Gibsonburg, EPA Ban on Industrial Construction,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 109
nearby Williams Park. Another industrial park, Clearwater Industrial Park, was built to the east
of the village where it became home to Green Field Ag, a precision ag company, and a medical
marijuana facility.528
Vickery Injection Wells
While Gibsonburg and Madison township residents opposed PCB incineration, residents
of Vickery, Ohio were continuing to fight their own battles with toxic waste disposal.
Gibsonburg resident’s make repeated references to Vickery’s waste disposal sites during their
own battle. The wells began operating in the 1970s and resistance started almost immediately as
evidenced by a 1975 lawsuit against OLD. At the time the toxic materials were stored in a series
of surface lagoons.529 Given the problems of surface storage of liquid waste the company
conducted a study to see if they might dispose of the waste into the Mount Simon sandstone
geological zone at 2,800 feet.530 The sandstone could not be used for municipal water, because it
contained brine.531 The lawsuit was filed after the application that OLD made on June 2, 1972, to
transition a test well into an industrial injection well was denied.532 It was denied on grounds that
it was determined that the project may contaminate the waters of the state.533 This was found to
be in error during the 1975 lawsuit and OLD began disposing of toxic waste into the Mount
528 Daniel Carson, “Gibsonburg Medical Marijuana Facility Holds Groundbreaking,” FNM, December 14, 2017, https://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local/2017/12/14 /gibsonburg-medical-marijuana-groundbreaking-ceremony/942581001/. 529 Ohio Liquid Disposal, Inc. v. Dawe, Court of Appeals of Ohio, Sandusky County, 1975, 46 Ohio App. 2d 198. https://www.leagle.com/decision/197524346ohioapp2d1971210. 530 Ibid. 531 Ibid. 532 Ibid. 533 Ibid. 110
Simon sandstone formation which “acts like a sponge, trapping the wastes.”534 Waste
Management Inc., (WMI) the parent company of Chemical Waste Management (CWM) who
owned Vickery Environmental, Inc. (VEI), purchased the wells from OLD in 1978.535
In July 1983 water samples were taken from forty-three homes near the VEI disposal site.
The samples were tested for arsenic, cyanides, phenols, lead, mercury, and nitrates, all chemical compounds that had been pumped into the deep wells.536 The water was also tested for PCBs and
dichlorobenzine (DCB) contamination; those tests were also negative.537 Kerik said that the
water met the standards required for public water.538 VEI paid for the PCB and DCB tests, while
the Sandusky County health department paid for the remaining tests.539 Warner was not surprised
by the results because the contaminates might “show up 50 or 100 miles out” meaning that the
local samples would come up clean.540 NOPE members intended to attend the board of health’s
August 16, 1983 meeting to urge the board to sue to have the disposal site shut down.541 NOPE
members wanted the site to be declared a nuisance, but board of health officials were told that
any lawsuit would be “fruitless.”542 Only the state could file such a suit and the permits provided
534 Mark Fisher, “Chemical Waste Officials Confident Deep Well Disposal System is Safe,” FNM, July 20, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 535 Daniel Carson, “Vickery Environmental Nears End of Long Federal Cleanup Program,” FNM, July 28, 2017, https://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local /2017/07/28/ohio-epa-orders-corrective-measures-vickery-site/489925001/. 536 Mark Fisher, “Heatlh Officials Report Tests Clear Riley Township Water,” FNM, July 14, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 537 Ibid. 538 Ibid. 539 Ibid. 540 Ibid. 541 Ibid. 542 Ibid. 111 by the state meant that the state did not consider the site or its operations to be a danger to public health.543
The surface lagoons at Vickery contained large quantities of PCB-contaminated oil sludge. There were discussions about removing the sludge, but CWM, as of July 18, 1983, were considering seeking permission to leave the sludge where it was and capping the lagoons with clay, because that would be the cheapest and safest means of disposal; cost, risk, and time were all taken into consideration.544 The lagoons were clay lined and if capped with clay it would prevent the sludge from shifting underground.545 CWM had already suggested incineration, but the Ohio EPA turned the idea down.546 If they were told by the Ohio EPA to remove the waste the company could be dealing with 10,000 truckloads of sludge; the most complicated clean up that George Vandervelde, technical director of CWM, had ever seen.547
The plant had improperly accepted 500,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated waste oil and that led to the sludge in the lagoons which contained up to 200 ppm of PCBs.548 CWM and VEI claimed that they did not know about PCB contamination until they were told of it in March by
VEI’s former head chemist, Peter Phung.549 Phung accused VEI of knowingly accepting contaminated waste between 1979–1981.550 VEI blamed the companies hauling the waste for not revealing the true contents of their trucks.551 Michael Walker, a U. S. EPA lawyer, believed that
543 Ibid. 544 Mark Fisher, “Chemical Waste Officials May Seek to Cap Sludge in Lagoons,” FNM, July 18, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 545 Ibid. 546 Ibid. 547 Ibid. 548 Ibid. 549 Ibid. 550 Ibid. 551 Ibid. 112 someone at VEI knew that the waste was contaminated, but that someone was not the officials.552 State Representative Dwight Wise, Jr. (D) believed that VEI knowingly accepted waste containing 36,000 ppm and then diluted it to cover up their actions.553
The Ohio EPA ordered the lagoons emptied and CWM informed the Ohio EPA that they would be unable to meet the September 1985 deadline.554 The company told Richard Shank, chief of enforcement for the Ohio EPA, that they would need to drill more wells or expand the five wells in current operation if they were to meet the deadline.555 The expansion process would include hydraulic fracturing to create new openings in the sandstone for the waste.556 Shank said that the Ohio EPA would not even consider applications for new wells or the expansion of existing wells until the whole deep well system was analyzed.557 CWM officials said that they had no plans to drill more wells, but they did not rule out the possibility of new wells or other waste disposal facilities in the future, such as burial of PCB-contaminated materials in clay lined lagoons.558 James Perry said that the Sandusky County board of health opposed the idea of burying the waste; they wanted it removed from the site.559 They feared that if the U. S. EPA and
Ohio EPA granted permits for the burial of PCB waste then the company would be able to accept more PCB waste in the future.560 This could have proven disaster as leaks were discovered in the
552 Ibid. 553 Ibid. 554 Mark Fisher, “Added Deep Wells Eyed for OLD,” FNM, July 21, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 555 Ibid. 556 Ibid. 557 Ibid. 558 Mark Fisher, “Health Board Opposed Burial of PCBs,” FNM, July 19, 1983, Box 190, Folder 30, “Pfizer Plant,” General Projects 1959–1988, DLL MS. 559 Ibid. 560 Ibid. 113
companies injection wells and in September 1983 low levels of dioxin were found in the storage
lagoons.561
Anthony Celebrezze, the Ohio Attorney General at the time, prepared a lawsuit that
would have sought the closure of the facilities and the imposition of fines up to $450 million.562
The lawsuit was not filed and in return WMI agreed to pay the Ohio EPA $800,000 per year for
10 years, and pay Sandusky County $200,000 for the same amount of time.563 This totaled $10
million in fines, the second largest environmental penalty ever paid in the U.S.564 WMI was also
ordered to spend at least $10 million bringing the site into compliance with Ohio’s
environmental guidelines.565 As per the agreement they also replaced the storage lagoons with
enclosed tanks and built a permanent facility to store the contaminated soil and materials that
were stored in the lagoons.566 WMI also agreed to the formation of a citizen’s monitoring group of health officials and other interested parties that would make monthly inspections, to pay the
Ohio EPA $40,000 per year so a full-time Ohio EPA employee could monitor the site, and to pay for yearly environmental inspections carried out by a third party.567
Problems with the Vickery disposal site did not end there. Beginning in 1991 VEI was taking soil samples as part of a corrective action program ordered by the U. S. EPA as part of the
561 “Waste Concern to Pay Ohio $10 Million in Fines,” NYT, May 3, 1984, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/03/us/waste-concern-to-pay-ohio-10-million-in-fines.html. 562 Ibid. 563 Ibid. 564 Ibid. The largest penalty was levied in October 1976 by the Federal Government against Allied Chemical Corporation for dumping Kepone, a pesticide, in the James River in Virginia. The fines totaled $13.2 million. 565 Ibid. 566 Ibid. 567 Ibid. 114
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.568 They excavated 200 cubic feet of soil that had been
contaminated by benzo(a)pyrene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon that results from the
incomplete combustion of organic matter at temperatures between 300–600 degrees Celsius,
which is not considered to be hazardous waste, but it had exceeded the allowable amount in the
environment.569 The material had leaked from emergency drainage tanks and above-ground pipes and was not caused by the deep wells.570 The cleanup efforts were approaching their end in 2017.
Today the Vickery wells are primarily used to dispose of the wastewater from fracking. It
can take up to 4,000,000 gallons of water to hydraulically fracture a well.571 After the water has
been used it contains radioactive elements and it cannot be returned to the water cycle. It must be
disposed of somewhere. The waste material used to be dumped in unlined earthen pits, but Ohio
began requiring that they use Class II injection wells.572 Since disposal practices changed there
have been no incidents of groundwater contamination from fracking waste, but these injection
wells may be responsible for earthquakes in their immediate vicinity; “a Class II injection well
outside of Youngstown caused nearly a dozen earthquakes there over the last year, including a
4.0 quake on New Year’s Eve.”573 In 2012 laws required that wells be set fifty feet away from
bodies of water and 300 feet from water wells.574 In 2016 H. B. 422 contained regulations that would further restrict injection well locations to 2,000 feet from occupied dwellings, bodies of
568 Daniel Carson, “Vickery Environmental Nears End of Long Federal Cleanup Program,” FNM, July 28, 2017, https://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local/2017 /07/28/ohio-epa-orders-corrective-measures-vickery-site/489925001/. 569 Ibid. 570 Ibid. 571 Bachman. 572 Ibid. 573 Ibid. 574 Ibid. 115
Figure 3.3: Location of Class 1 Injection Wells in Ohio (In Lawrence H. Wickstrom and Mark T. Baranoski, “Industrial-Waste Disposal Wells in Ohio,” Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey, October 31, 2013).
water, and water wells.575 Those restrictions come after existing wells were accepting almost
record levels of waste.576 Ohio’s 170 Class II injection wells most commonly appear in eastern
Ohio, but they can also be found in northwest Ohio (Figures 3.3 and 3.4).577
There are six classes of injection wells, four of which can be found in Ohio.578 Each class of well has a different purpose; Class I wells are used for hazardous waste, industrial non- hazardous liquids, and municipal waste; Class II wells are used for brines and other fluids associated with the oil and gas industry along with storing hydrocarbons beneath the lowest
USDW; fluids used for solution mining of minerals are injected into Class III wells; Class IV wells inject hazardous and radioactive wasted into or above the USDW and they are banned
575 Jeremiah Shelor, “Lawmakers Propose New Restrictions on Ohio Injection Wells,” NGISD, January 20, 2016, https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/105056-lawmakers-propose- new-restrictions-on-ohio-injection-wells. 576 Ibid. 577 Sarah Goodyear, “Contaminated Water from West Virginia Finds New Home in Ohio,” NC, April 22, 2014, https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/injection-wells-west-virginia-ohio- fracking. 578 Jennifer Smith Richards, “Toxic Waste Injected into Ohio Well,” CD, May 4, 2014, https://www.dispatch.com/article/20140504/NEWS/305049922. 116
Figure 3.4: Class II Brine Injection Wells of Ohio (In Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey and Division of Oil and Gas Resource Management, 2014). 117 unless they are authorized for ground water remediation projects; Class V includes all wells not included in I–IV and are used for non-hazardous fluids into, above, or below the USDW; Class
VI wells are used for storing Carbon Dioxide. 579 All materials are injected beneath the lowermost USDW unless otherwise stated.580 Ohio’s geology makes it ideal for these wells.581
Drilling waste from fracking in Pennsylvania is disposed of in those wells along with hazardous waste.582 In 2014 Freedom Industries spilled 7,500 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, a chemical used for coal cleansing, into Elk River.583 Some 60,000 gallons of contaminated water were removed from the spill site and disposed of in Class I injection wells in Sandusky of which are no longer used.584 The Ohio EPA uses a variety of tests to make sure that the injected materials are not migrating beneath the surface.585 One method is monitoring wells that are used to observe the quality of ground water in the lowermost USDW; 100 such wells are located around the Vickery site and materials have never migrated from the property.586 In March 2019 the Ohio EPA held public meetings to field questions and concerns about VEI’s applications to construct two new Class I injection wells that would reach depths of 2,900 feet, the same depth
579 “Underground Injection Control (UIC),” Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas Resources, accessed June 16, 2019, http://oilandgas.ohiodnr.gov/regulatory-sections/underground-injection-control. 580 Ibid. 581 Sarah Goodyear, “Contaminated Water from West Virginia Finds New Home in Ohio,” NC, April 22, 2014, https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/injection-wells-west-virginia-ohio- fracking. 582 Ibid. 583 Ibid. 584 Goodyear. 585 Tom Jackson, “Toxic Wastewater Ends Up in Vickery,” SR, May 10, 2014, http://www.sanduskyregister.com/story/201405100020. 586 Ibid. 118
as their current wells.587 These permits would only allow the company to drill the wells; to dispose of waste they would need to apply for additional permits from the Ohio EPA.588
These injection wells were still sources of concern for local residents. They are located
less than five miles from Clyde, Ohio; a town that sits at the center of a cancer cluster that
enveloped much of eastern Sandusky County.589 While rates of childhood cancer peaked in
2005–2006, forty cases have been reported in the vicinity since 1996.590 During investigations in
2009, investigators scrutinized the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, along with World War II-
era sites in the surrounding area that were associated with nuclear weapons.591 In 2012 they
tested fourteen separate sites for contamination including a vacant lot that used to belong to a
company called Formulated Products, a chemical company, former dumps that closed before the
1970s, sites owned by Whirlpool, the Clyde City Dump, which was used for industrial waste
before 1969, and other locations.592 The soil samples they took from thirteen sites—they were
denied access to the McGrath Dump Site in Vickery—came back with no indications of
contaminations, which left the cause of the cancer cluster as a mystery.593
587 Daniel Carson, “Ohio EPA Meeting to Address Vickery Environmental Plans for New Wells,” FNM, March 19, 2019, https://amp.thenews-messenger.com/amp/3202285002; “News Briefs: Public Meeting Set on Proposed Injection Wells,” FNM, March 18, 2019, https://amp.thenews-messenger.com/amp/3200086002. 588 “News Brief.” 589 Jackson, “Toxic Wastewater,” and Tom Henry, “Ohio Panel Expands Its Cancer Study Near Clyde,” TB, December 16, 2009, https://www.toledoblade.com/local/2009/12/16/Ohio- panel-expands-its-cancer-study-near-Clyde/stories/200912160028. 590 Henry, “Cancer Study Near Clyde.” 591 Ibid. 592 Tony Cook, “U. S. EPA Seeks Cause of Child Cancer Cluster,” TB, February 14, 2012, https://www.toledoblade.com/news/medical/2012/02/14/U-S-EPA-seeks-cause-of-child- cancer-cluster/stories/20120214011. 593 Madeline Buxton, “Survey Rules Out Contamination in Child Cancer Cases,” TB, July 28, 2012, https://www.toledoblade.com/news/medical/2012/07/28/Survey-rules-out- contamination-in-child-cancer-cases/stories/20120728004. 119
Some residents were still convinced that there was an environmental root to the problem,
but believed that the Ohio EPA and the U. S. EPA did not act quickly enough to discover it.594
Ruth Haag argued that the Vickery wells should not be overlooked because the wells were
operating prior to new regulations took effect and the wells ran into problems in the 1970s and
1980s, which may have led to waste ending up where it did not belong.595 The health
commissioner for Sandusky County, David Pollick, who also sat on a committee that monitored
the wells, denied that the wells could have caused the cancer cluster.596 Some of the affected
families sued Whirlpool claiming that the smokestacks from Whirlpool’s factory released a
chemical compound in the air; they dropped the suit in 2015.597 In November of 2012, toxic
waste was discovered at Whirlpool Park near Green Springs, Ohio when the U. S. EPA tested the
site. 598 This park was one of the sites previously tested and declared free of contamination by the
Ohio EPA.599 The report revealed that toxic metals and PCBs were present in the park’s soil.600
Whirlpool built the park in the 1950s for the children of Whirlpool employees; they sold it in
2008.601 There was a pond on site, and the contaminates were found on the land slopping into the
pond, which was used to fill Clyde’s city swimming pool.602
594 Ibid. 595 Jackson, “Toxic Wastewater.” 596 Ibid. 597 “Ohio Families Drop Cancer Cluster Suit Against Whirlpool,” ABJ, February 22, 2015, https://www.ohio.com/article/20150222/NEWS/302229495. 598 Jennifer Feehan, “‘Toxic Sludge’ Discovered At Park In Clyde Area, Cancer Patients’ Families Shocked, Lawyer Says,” TB, November 15, 2012, https://www.toledoblade.com/news /state/2012/11/15/Toxic-sludge-discovered-at-park-in-Clyde-area-cancer-patients-families- shocked-lawyer-says/stories/20121115077; “Green Springs Park Revealed as Toxic Dumping Ground,” TB, November 14, 2012, https://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/11/14/Attorneys- Clyde-families-to-hold-news-conference-about-high-PCB-levels-at-former-playground.html. 599 “Green Springs Park Revealed” 600 Ibid. 601 Ibid.; and Feehan. 602 “Green Springs Park Revealed.” 120
Whirlpool said that they purchased the land in 1953 and they always used it as a park and it had been a park since they sold it to Grist Mill Creek, LLC in 2008.603 However, those living near the park said that they saw dumping going on while Whirlpool owned the property.604
Following the discovery Whirlpool employees tried to gain access to the site to determine which compounds were present, when they got there, how they got there, and how they could be removed.605 The present owners would not allow the Whirlpool employees on site unless they were released from any liability for what was found there.606 While only some of the children who contracted cancer swam or played in the park, the majority of their mothers had, prompting questions about whether or not PCBs could be passed from mother to child in utero.607
Residents of Gibsonburg and Madison Township stood up to industry in spite of the prospect of jobs to an economically depressed town that had recently lost an industry that employed nearly 150 people. They organized quickly and efficiently when they saw the possibility of threat. Recent events in Vickery had sensitized them to the possibility of danger, but they did not jump to conclusions. At first, they did not assume that the plant would be dangerous; they wanted more information so they could understand it better. The lime industry was well understood and the threats to air quality accepted as possibly dangerous for those susceptible to respiratory problems, but not dangerous for the entire population or for anyone who consumed food produced or processed in the area. Once it became apparent that PCBs may not be harmless, residents contacted their state representatives for help; they organized meetings with experts; they contacted the Ohio and U. S. EPA and everyone that they thought could help.
603 Feehan. 604 Ibid. 605 Ibid. 606 Ibid. 607 Ibid. 121
They were supported in their efforts by other environmental groups in Sandusky County and
nearby counties. Their quick organization and acquisition of legal counsel and the decisive action
on the part of the Madison Township board of trustees resulted in the Pfizer terminating the sale
to GLC. While residents of Gibsonburg were successful, other groups were not. The Vickery
wells are still in operation sparking concern among residents, and Ohio Lime Company in
Helena, Ohio began burning PCB-contaminated waste oil sometime between 1983 and 1986, to
which there was also resistance. Gibsonburg’s quick action prior to the sale of the Pfizer plant likely made their actions effective and prevented Sandusky County, for the time, from being a test site for burning PCB-contaminated waste oils as fuel. They resisted the possibility of jobs and economic growth in preference for greater safety and health for the public and the environment. They were unaware of the events in 1890; nevertheless, the earlier reforming spirit was present. 122
CONCLUSION
Petroleum and other hydrocarbons have a complex history. They are required for many aspects of modern life, but they are also linked with pollution and damage to the environment and to people. The tension between the two reveals which was preferred by people at particular times. Lima had seventy derricks within the city limits; it was said you could walk across North
Baltimore without touching the ground by stepping from derrick to derrick; derricks ruled the early skylines of Los Angeles where several oil pumps continue to work side by side with new homes. In those cases, hydrocarbons and the money associated with them proved to be more important than perceived ill effects. In some places such as Gibsonburg in 1890 and 1983, we see that while the community was desirous of jobs and wealth, some residents valued the environment more and they did all they could to protect themselves and their land. In 1890 this was in the form of petroleum and natural gas wells which provided indoor lighting and fuel for homes and local businesses; and in 1983 hydrocarbons would have re-opened an important local business that employed over 100 residents. Gibsonburg and Sandusky County were reform minded and interested in environmentalism before it became a national issue during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, and that concern did not disappear when the oil dried up, rather it continued long after and it helped Gibsonburg residents resist the allure of jobs in the face of assurances about the procedure’s safety in order to protect themselves and their environment. 123
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APPENDIX A: ABBREVIATIONS
CWM Chemical Waste Management
DCB Dichlorobenzene
DLL MS Delbert L. Latta Congressional Papers
EIA Energy Information Administration
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EREF Energy Research and Education Foundation
GLC Gibsonburg Lime Company
GVFD Gibsonburg Volunteer Fire Department
HWFAB Hazardous Waste Facilities Approval Board
IOGT Independent Order of Good Templars
MoMA Museum of Modern Art
NOPE Northern Ohioans for the Protection of the Environment
ODNR Ohio Department of Natural Resources
OLD Ohio Liquid Disposal
PCB Polychlorinated Biphenyls
POP Persistent Organic Pollutants
PPM Parts per million
SCPD Sandusky County Park District
SOC Save Our County Committee
SPIN Stop PCB Incineration Now
TBPD Thousands of Barrels Per Day
USDW Underground Sources of Drinking Water 140
USFS United States Forest Service
VEI Vickery Environmental, Inc.
VFD Volunteer Fire Department
WMI Waste Management, Inc.
Newspapers
ABJ Akron Beacon Journal
BGST Bowling Green Sentinel Tribune
CD Columbus Dispatch
CPD Cleveland Plain Dealer
DDN Dayton Daily News
FNM Fremont News Messenger
GD Gibsonburg Derrick
MFTL Martin’s Ferry (Ohio) Times Leader
NC Next City
NGISD Natural Gas Intel Shale Daily
NYT New York Times
PCNH Port Clinton News Herald
SR Sandusky Register
TAT Tiffin Advertiser Tribune
TB Toledo Blade
TE Trinidad Express
YSN Yellow Springs News