Ohio’s AG suing company over sinkholes under Ottawa County highway

PORT CLINTON, Ohio (WTVG) – Ohio’s Department of Transportation is trying to recoup the nearly $17 million it spent trying to fix sinkholes in Ottawa County.

They’re not just any holes. They’re sitting directly under a highway. It’s all part of building State Route 2 back in the 1960s. The state used land it thought would be ok but has shown problems over the last decade.

If you’re riding along a snowy SR 2 in Ottawa County, you’re probably giving very little thought to the ground holding up that roadway. When ODOT noticed sinkholes there back in 2013 they urgently worked to fill them with grout.

“ODOT has been forced, the state of Ohio, has been forced to do the work they wouldn’t do,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

“They” is United States Gypsum. It’s an Ottawa County company that mined the mineral used in things like drywall. USG, as it is now called, sold the land to build SR 2 in the 1960s. Land that had the gypsum mines below.

“They said, ‘Hey we know and you know that there are holes under there, there are old mines. We’ll make sure the ground stays stable so the ground doesn’t collapse underneath your highway.’ Which was really important to us because there are motorists, taxpayers driving on that road. Years went by and they didn’t do it and tried to get out of their obligation,” said Yost.

That’s why Ohio’s Attorney General has sued USG in Ottawa County court for the nearly $17 million the state used to fill in the sinkholes dating back a decade. ODOT believes the road is safe. Monitoring and work to keep it that way is costly.

“We owe it to the people, thousands of people who drive daily over this stretch of highway, to make sure we got what we paid for,” said Yost.

The I-TEAM has reached out to USG, which still operates a factory in Ottawa County, for a comment but we have not heard back.

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