TULSA, Okla. — FOX 23 did a follow-up to our FOX23 investigation last month about an oil spill in a West Tulsa neighborhood creek. It happened near 41st and Southwest Boulevard. The day after our first story aired, FOX23 finally received the records we had requested from the City of Tulsa about the spill. FOX first heard about the spill from a Tulsan who texted photos taken in October. The neighbor told FOX23 he saw what he thought looked like oil running down Cherry Creek from about West 36th Street to West 41st Street.

FOX23 went to the creek bed in November to check it out, a couple weeks after the spill. FOX23 could see where the spill used to be where some of the grass was still stained as well as some dark spots where an oily substance used to be. There was still some residue left behind.

Fox23 found out from the City of Tulsa that American Waste Control was responsible for the oil spill. FOX23 requested documents related to the incident through an open records request. In our first FOX23 investigation, we reported FOX23 had been waiting for almost two months for those records.

Then, the day after the story aired, the city sent those documents to FOX23. Turns out, the city sent a notice of violation to American Waste Control. It says “you have been found to be in violation of the city’s pollution ordinance”... For the “disposal of an oily substance.” the city gave American Waste Control “5 working days” to clean it up.

American Waste Control’s vice president told FOX23 he thinks this is how the spill happened. He says fluids from one of the company trucks - including the oil - had been drained, and it was sitting in a container outside. Then he says West Tulsa got a heavy rainfall and flooded the area. He thinks that caused the container to overflow, and all of that oil flowed into Cherry Creek.

The city’s investigation complaint report says the investigator “observed an oily substance settled across bottom of cherry creek bank.” It included photos that show a dark substance in the grass and an oily looking substance on someone’s hand as well as on the fingers of a white glove. The photos also show a large brown container with a drainage runoff that flows into a ditch along the road. The report says “a conveyance ditch that comes from American Waste Control appeared to be the point of origin for the discharge.”

But the American Waste Control vice president told FOX23 in an email the container that held the oil that spilled was *not” shown in the report. He wrote “none of the photos show the container that had the oil in it.” FOX23 asked for photos of the container, but the company hasn’t provided any.

FOX23 checked with FOX23 meteorologists about rainfall during that time period. Here’s a breakdown: they say the last measurable rainfall was on October 15 about 3/4″. The city notified American Waste Control on October 22 about the spill. Then it rained again, about an inch five days later on October 27.

These photos of puddles were dated on October 28. But in the same report, these photos are dated 8 days before on October 20. They show the oily substance and no puddles.

After the cleanup, American Caste Control sent this letter to the city about the “hydrocarbon discharge.” It said “within 24 hours, we had the site of contamination cleaned up and removed....” and that workers used a “dawn dish soap cleaning solution to separate the oily substance from the organic plants and grass base of the waterway”. The letter also said “this is the first time a spill has occurred and mark our words, it will be the last”. The day after our first FOX23 investigation about the spill, neighbors saw workers spraying something in the same creek bed where the spill happened.

I asked American Waste Control about it. The vice president said they weren’t American Waste Control workers. When I asked the city about it... They wrote “this is a city maintained channel, it was a routine herbicide application by certified staff to control weeds, improve Bermuda growth and improve aesthetics.

The vice president told FOX23 American Waste Control took the spill seriously. He called it an “all hands on deck” situation and said more than a dozen employees including him jumped in right away to clean it up. When we asked the city if they followed up with American Waste Control about the cleanup, FOX23 was told the city called the company multiple times, and the city verified the cleanup job by doing their own inspection.

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