Environmental concerns after lithium-ion battery burns in Piqua - From Dayton 24/7, WKEF
NOTE: WKEF, Dayton 24/7 Now news, reached out to the Tippecanoe Gazette and asked us to help amplify their exclusive investigation into the Piqua battery fires. This story was written by Lydia Bice. We’ve included a lengthy excerpt below, but for the whole story, along with documents and more photos, read the whole story by following this link.
Battery burning in Piqua - Wooden skids where lithium-ion batteries were kept after they were burned (Photo provided by the Ohio EPA)
PIQUA, Ohio (WKEF) -- Dayton 24/7 Now is continuing our exclusive investigation into environmental concerns in Piqua.
Tuesday, November 14, marks two months to the day that residents came to us, upset that the city was burning lithium-ion batteries at a training facility near the Great Miami River.
The program had been going on for five years, since 2018, and yet as of Tuesday, November 14, 2023, we still don’t know the environmental impact of these lithium-ion battery burns.
ORIGINAL REPORT | Piqua residents express concern over burning of lithium-ion batteries at local fire department training center
Dayton 24/7 Now’s Lydia Bice has been investigating this story for months and went straight to the Ohio EPA, and experts, for answers.
Neither the Ohio EPA or Regional Air Pollution Control Agency (RAPCA), tested the water, air, or soil around the burn site during the last five years when these burns were happening. However, the city -- with input from the Ohio EPA -- has since contracted with an independent laboratory to test the city's water sources and treated water supply. According to a statement posted on the city's website, results from those tests showed no concerning levels of contamination. The statement went on to say the water was acceptable for drinking, bathing, and cooking. The city also says it will perform soil sampling, groundwater testing, and air modeling out of an abundance of caution.
“We live in a very proud community, surrounded by natural resources. We need to take care of that, and part of that means we don't burn toxins over our water supply,” said Scott Phillips, lifelong Piqua resident.
After protests and demands for answers from city officials, the City of Piqua stopped its battery burn program on September 21, 2023. This after a site inspection from the Ohio EPA and RAPCA found two violations.
The Ohio EPA sent Dayton 24/7 Now burn permits submitted by the City of Piqua. Those permits show that a company called ESRG which is out of the Columbus area, was contracting with the City of Piqua to burn batteries, including those that came from electric cars and generators. In 2018, when the city first requested the burn permit, they said it was to train firefighters on how to extinguish car fires, as electric vehicles rose in popularity.
However, according to the Ohio EPA, firefighters weren’t even on site during many of these burns. The state also says the company was performing more burns than were allowed on the permit.
According to the Notice of Violation, there have been 17 complaints since May 2023, including from a nearby business, whose owners said they had to stop operations for a day because of fumes.