PIKE COUNTY, Ohio — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has issued a Director’s Final Findings and Orders requiring Ohio Basic Minerals LLC to stabilize an abandoned sand mine that has been contaminating Pike County waterways with sediment for more than a decade, according to documents obtained by the Scioto Valley Guardian.
The March 30 order gives the company 60 days to begin stabilization activities at the former Scioto Plant mine located at 1058 Ricubaugh Road in Beaver, and six months to complete all erosion control work.
The Scioto Plant sand mine is currently closed and unreclaimed, according to the EPA order.
Documented pollution source since 2011
A 2011 Ohio EPA study, the Biological and Water Quality Study of the Lower Scioto River and Selected Tributaries, documented the Scioto Plant as a continuing source of Total Suspended Solids and a contributor of sediment load to Carrs Run, according to the order.
Impairment of Carrs Run was the result of heavy sedimentation and sand bedload from the Scioto Plant site, according to the EPA.
The site continues to discharge sediment, according to the EPA, into the Hay Hollow Reservoir.
Failed to report discharges for 18 months
Ohio Basic Minerals held a permit authorizing the site to discharge from its sediment control pond and storm water to an unnamed tributary to Carrs Run, according to the order. The permit expired May 31, 2021, and has not been renewed, according to the order.
The EPA said the company failed to submit required Discharge Monitoring Reports for April 2017 through October 2018 — an 18-month period — according to the order.
The Ohio EPA has also issued at least three Notices of Violation for missing reports.
Mining bond forfeited
The site is also regulated by the Ohio Division of Natural Resources as a nonmetallic mineral mine. ODNR held a mining bond of $17,900 for the site, which was forfeited to ODNR’s Division of Mineral Resources Management on May 6, 2025, to be used for future reclamation purposes.
Required cleanup activities
The EPA order requires Ohio Basic Minerals to complete the following activities within six months:
- Conduct a professional topographic survey of contaminated areas
- Grade and level using aggregate imported from another area of the mine site
- Construct drainage swales in the southern portion of the contaminated area
- Fill an identified low spot on the haul road to mitigate sediment erosion
- Construct culverts to minimize further sediment erosion and direct surface water to natural discharge channels
- Post-construction observation following a rain event
The order states the company waived its right to appeal and agreed to comply “in order to resolve disputed claims, without admission of fact, violation or liability, and in lieu of further enforcement action by Ohio EPA.”