Major incident at work today!

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amos
1010 crawler
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Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:29 am
Location: Piney Woods of east Texas

Major incident at work today!

Post by amos » Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:51 pm

I have a factory in my hometown and own half a city block adjoining it in the downtown area. As a courtesy I allow paving contractors to use a portion of the area to stock pile materials and stage equipment.All I ask is that they respect my property and if conducive to all parties offer some type of consideration(gravel,sealcoat parking lot etc).
So 6 months ago 4 large pieces of equipment show up on my lot. Tool me 4 months to find out who they belonged to and I had one of the supervisors come to discuss the arrangement.
I pointed out 4 large hydraulic filters dumped on my property and also pointed out the oil leaks contaminating my property. Don't worry Mr.Snow, we'll take care of it and it won't happen again and we'll bring you some millings for allowing us to stage our equipment here........
So I pull into the lot this morning and there is a 5 ton service truck there and the mechanic is working on a very large lift cylinder: and he had dumped 25+ gallons of hydraulic oil directly onto the ground without a thought or care in the world.
The poop hath done hit the fan...
Went to my office and got my camera and went back and started taking pics with 1 hand and on phone to police with the other.
4 police cruisers showed up,5 city environmental inspectors,and then the state environmental man arrived. Turns out intentional dumping of oils is a felony in my beloved Texas.
Removal and remediation started today,testing to follow and putting area back to unpolluted condition sometime next week after testing shows it to be clean.
Company doing the cleanup said it will be in the $20,000.00 range. Offending company now has a criminal trespass order against them prohibiting them from coming onto my property.
Never did get the millings........
What set me off was the total disregard of my rights as the property owner(who pays the $38,000.00 in property taxes every year) and their attitude of unbelievable audacity. Disgusting.
I'll get off the soapbox now.
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

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amos
1010 crawler
1010 crawler
Posts: 360
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:29 am
Location: Piney Woods of east Texas

Re: Major incident at work today!

Post by amos » Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:23 am

Woke up this morning and BP is still in stratosphere. Knees throbbing(worked garden yesterday to relieve stress. Garden looking pretty good btw) and today is my b-day.
All things pass and maybe I'll get some good deals at the auction tomorrow.
Back to the garden(at the factory site): seeing some blooms on the maters and egg plant. Replanted squash and seeing seedlings. Sugar peas doing well as is collards. Peppers have little baby peppers already and the 240' of creme peas is sprouting. Got a few okra sprouts too.Seeing some bush been sprouting as well.Replanted cukes yesterday and side dressed (fertilize) the maters,peppers,egg plant,collards,etc.Ran the tiller between rows to cultivate.
With luck I'll make it through today without having to choke anyone....Yesterday was one I'll remember for a very long time.
Amos
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

dtoots1
350 crawler
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Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:54 am
Location: akron, ohio

Re: Major incident at work today!

Post by dtoots1 » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:22 am

Well and tis a fine day to have a "Happy Birthday to YOU!"

Sorry to hear about your disillusionment.....understatement intended... Now that you have addressed it it will pass and you can relax and let blood pressure back down. Believe you may have educated them well. Bet they started hopping when you all came out!!

Take Care....

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Lavoy
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Re: Major incident at work today!

Post by Lavoy » Thu Apr 19, 2018 9:49 am

Sucks to be them, but life is hard, harder when you are stupid. Lack of courtesy is really disappointing, and I would have done the same thing you did, it is just a matter of principal.
Lavoy
Parts and restoration for antique and late model John Deere crawlers.
Owner and moderator www.jdcrawlers.com

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Stan Disbrow
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Location: Raleigh, NC

Re: Major incident at work today!

Post by Stan Disbrow » Thu Apr 19, 2018 9:55 am

Hi,

Yuck. What a mess. Just don't get yourself into a medical issue because someone else hasn't a fully functional brain.

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
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Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

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psprague
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Location: Olympic Peninsula

Re: Major incident at work today!

Post by psprague » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:59 pm

Happy birthday Amos! My eldest daughter's birthday is this sunday. She's getting her first hour of dual instruction for getting a private pilots license.

Sunday is earth day too.
JD 450c forestry, JD 440A cable skidder

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amos
1010 crawler
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Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:29 am
Location: Piney Woods of east Texas

Re: Major incident at work today!

Post by amos » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:07 am

Update: so far 8 yards of contaminated dirt has been removed and testing still shows contaminated.Will know wednesday if the spill is remediated.Then clean fill to be brought in and packed.
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

hydrogeo
440 crawler
440 crawler
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:48 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Re: Major incident at work today!

Post by hydrogeo » Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:53 pm

For what it's worth I'd suggest making sure it is clearly documented that they are the responsible party of record for the release, and you may want to talk with a lawyer that is good with environmental law. Often times, once a spill is on the books, even if it's "clean" by current standards the regulators reserve the right to open the issue back up again should there be a change in standards. Environmental liability is tricky. I have seen 100 gal fuel spills cost more than $100k to clean up and still not be at 100%. Also, if you ever go to refinance or sell your property the release will come up when the bank does an Environmental Assessment (standard practice with banks these days).

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