By Janice Morse
and David Eck
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PLEASANT PLAIN - A thief trying to steal anhydrous ammonia Wednesday from a fertilizer plant in this Warren County community to make methamphetamine created one of the largest spills of its kind in Ohio, authorities said.

About 520 gallons of ammonia, which when exposed to air converts into a chemical gas, spilled when thieves trying to siphon the ammonia from a large tank to a smaller one left a valve open, authorities said. About 300 residents were evacuated from their homes for several hours as officials cleaned up the spill.

No one was injured, and police had not arrested anyone.

But officials at Southwest Landmark are growing increasingly frustrated and concerned about the thefts of the ammonia, a farm fertilizer and a main ingredient in the making of methamphetamine.

Thieves have targeted Southwest Landmark more than 20 times in the past several years, company officials said. The company has tried using surveillance cameras, security lighting and police stakeouts to protect its supply.

"We're working on it - hard," said Mike Young, company manager. "I'm afraid this problem is heading our way more and more."

Such thefts are increasing nationwide as popularity and production of methamphetamine mushrooms. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has called meth abuse the nation's fastest-growing drug threat.

And like many fertilizer companies and farmers, Young isn't sure what else he can do to combat the problem.

He has considered putting up fencing, but that could impede access in case of emergency. And, he said, he fears that fences won't stop thieves, who could cut through or crawl under.

"We recognize that it's a growing problem. ... The number of attempted thefts has been increasing," said John Cornely, spokesman for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. But neither that group nor the Ohio Attorney General's Office keeps track of how many such thefts have struck Ohio farmers and co-ops.

The Warren County Sheriff's Office took 13 reports of tampering or theft of anhydrous ammonia in 2003. There have been two reported thefts, including Wednesdays, this year, Sheriff Tom Ariss said.

"This is a pretty major release," said John Burke, commander of the Warren-Clinton Drug and Strategic Operations Task Force.

Doug McQuitty, was one of those evacuated after a resident called authorities about 4:30 a.m. to report the smell of ammonia. Residents were allowed back to their home by 8 a.m.

"It's the first time we've actually been evacuated," he said. "You could smell it. It's beginning to become a concern."

"You think they would have come up with something to secure that tank," McQuitty said. "Eventually, somebody is going to get killed."

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com and daveck@fuse.net