Landfill told to snuff fire, close 88 acres
BY Edd Pritchard and Kelli Young
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - The original section of Countywide landfill will close as part of a deal with the state, but Stark County health officials will be left to decide if the facility can continue operating.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Republic Services — owner of Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility — agreed to 16 orders aimed at ending odor problems that have plagued Countywide for more than a year.
Ohio EPA ordered Republic Services to find a way to extinguish a fire burning under the landfill’s original 88 acres. The state also fined the company more than $1 million.
Republic Services spokesman Will Flower called the latest action “very stringent, probably some of the most comprehensive orders that the agency has ever issued regarding the remediation of a landfill.”
Countywide now is on a 60-day schedule to develop and submit fire suppression recommendations to Ohio EPA. State officials — along with two independent experts in fire protection engineering — will review the proposals and have Countywide follow one of the recommendations.
Ohio EPA will aggressively monitor and enforce the effort to make certain the odor problems end, Director Chris Korleski said Wednesday.
“Since the second day I started, this has been a priority,” said Korleski, who was appointed Ohio EPA director by Gov. Ted Strickland.
ATTACKING A PROBLEM
The problem lies within an 88-acre area that was filled in during the early to mid-1990s before Republic took over the site in 1998, Flower said.
Months of complaints by Stark and Tuscarawas County residents about foul odors from the landfill prompted Countywide managers and consultants to review records.
The investigation focused on hundreds of thousands of tons of aluminum dross dumped at countywide from 1993 until 2001. Lab tests showed the aluminum dross, when mixed with liquids generated at the site, underwent a chemical reaction that produces intense heat and hydrogen gas.
“It is not a fire, it has no flames, no smoke, but it is a chemical reaction,” Flower said.
The reaction ignited garbage buried at the site. The burning garbage is blamed for the odor.
There are indications the reaction has slowed, Flower said. “Part of that has to do with dewatering of the site, and that we covered the site to cut off any oxygen supply. It’s still continuing (to react) and probably will continue for many months.”
Meetings between Ohio EPA and Countywide officials began in late February, one week after the state recommended the Stark County Board of Health deny a new annual operating license for the landfill.
Ohio EPA’s conditions will not affect the daily operations of Countywide, but allows “us to stay focused on fixing the landfill,” Flower said.
Countywide must close the 88 acres and at least 15.5 million cubic yards of currently permitted airspace. Airspace is the amount of space that exists inside the landfill.
Flower said Countywide is losing space that would have taken about seven years to fill.
“We still have in excess of 25 years of available disposal capacity in the new area, which hasn’t had a problem,” Flower said.
A LOCAL DECISION
Stark County’s health board will decide if Republic Services can use those 25 acres.
Agreeing to close the original 88 acres eliminated the reasons behind the initial recommendation to deny the landfill license, Korleski said in a letter to Stark Health Commissioner William Franks.
But Franks said he already has started a review of Countywide’s operations. “I will go through with it, just like we had intended to do.”
He expects to present the results of his informal investigation to the county Board of Health sometime in late April or early May.
Franks said the new EPA orders take the original 88 acres “out of the picture.”
“The EPA is calling for total closure and separation and will be dealing with the 88 acres separately,” Franks said.
He said the next phase of his informal investigation is to discuss the new orders with Ohio EPA.
Countywide officials met with Franks as part of his investigation before the settlement was announced.
“I know they (county health department) have to look at the operation history of the landfill,” Flower said. “Granted there is this problem that occurred at the old part of the landfill, but if you look at day-to-day operation of the landfill, we have a very good compliance record.”
PAYING UP
Flower called the fine a “significant civil penalty” that the company has agreed to pay within 30 days with one check.
Ohio EPA officials said $250,000 will be used to establish an interest-bearing account known as the Community Benefit Project Fund. The state will seek ideas for the fund from interested parties in the community.
Flower said Republic Services and Countywide are sorry the situation exists.
“We wished it had not occurred, but the fact is that it did,” Flower said. “We have never shirked our responsibilities and have never said we are not responsible for correcting the problem, and that is still true today.”
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - The original section of Countywide landfill will close as part of a deal with the state, but Stark County health officials will be left to decide if the facility can continue operating.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Republic Services — owner of Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility — agreed to 16 orders aimed at ending odor problems that have plagued Countywide for more than a year.
Ohio EPA ordered Republic Services to find a way to extinguish a fire burning under the landfill’s original 88 acres. The state also fined the company more than $1 million.
Republic Services spokesman Will Flower called the latest action “very stringent, probably some of the most comprehensive orders that the agency has ever issued regarding the remediation of a landfill.”
Countywide now is on a 60-day schedule to develop and submit fire suppression recommendations to Ohio EPA. State officials — along with two independent experts in fire protection engineering — will review the proposals and have Countywide follow one of the recommendations.
Ohio EPA will aggressively monitor and enforce the effort to make certain the odor problems end, Director Chris Korleski said Wednesday.
“Since the second day I started, this has been a priority,” said Korleski, who was appointed Ohio EPA director by Gov. Ted Strickland.
ATTACKING A PROBLEM
The problem lies within an 88-acre area that was filled in during the early to mid-1990s before Republic took over the site in 1998, Flower said.
Months of complaints by Stark and Tuscarawas County residents about foul odors from the landfill prompted Countywide managers and consultants to review records.
The investigation focused on hundreds of thousands of tons of aluminum dross dumped at countywide from 1993 until 2001. Lab tests showed the aluminum dross, when mixed with liquids generated at the site, underwent a chemical reaction that produces intense heat and hydrogen gas.
“It is not a fire, it has no flames, no smoke, but it is a chemical reaction,” Flower said.
The reaction ignited garbage buried at the site. The burning garbage is blamed for the odor.
There are indications the reaction has slowed, Flower said. “Part of that has to do with dewatering of the site, and that we covered the site to cut off any oxygen supply. It’s still continuing (to react) and probably will continue for many months.”
Meetings between Ohio EPA and Countywide officials began in late February, one week after the state recommended the Stark County Board of Health deny a new annual operating license for the landfill.
Ohio EPA’s conditions will not affect the daily operations of Countywide, but allows “us to stay focused on fixing the landfill,” Flower said.
Countywide must close the 88 acres and at least 15.5 million cubic yards of currently permitted airspace. Airspace is the amount of space that exists inside the landfill.
Flower said Countywide is losing space that would have taken about seven years to fill.
“We still have in excess of 25 years of available disposal capacity in the new area, which hasn’t had a problem,” Flower said.
A LOCAL DECISION
Stark County’s health board will decide if Republic Services can use those 25 acres.
Agreeing to close the original 88 acres eliminated the reasons behind the initial recommendation to deny the landfill license, Korleski said in a letter to Stark Health Commissioner William Franks.
But Franks said he already has started a review of Countywide’s operations. “I will go through with it, just like we had intended to do.”
He expects to present the results of his informal investigation to the county Board of Health sometime in late April or early May.
Franks said the new EPA orders take the original 88 acres “out of the picture.”
“The EPA is calling for total closure and separation and will be dealing with the 88 acres separately,” Franks said.
He said the next phase of his informal investigation is to discuss the new orders with Ohio EPA.
Countywide officials met with Franks as part of his investigation before the settlement was announced.
“I know they (county health department) have to look at the operation history of the landfill,” Flower said. “Granted there is this problem that occurred at the old part of the landfill, but if you look at day-to-day operation of the landfill, we have a very good compliance record.”
PAYING UP
Flower called the fine a “significant civil penalty” that the company has agreed to pay within 30 days with one check.
Ohio EPA officials said $250,000 will be used to establish an interest-bearing account known as the Community Benefit Project Fund. The state will seek ideas for the fund from interested parties in the community.
Flower said Republic Services and Countywide are sorry the situation exists.
“We wished it had not occurred, but the fact is that it did,” Flower said. “We have never shirked our responsibilities and have never said we are not responsible for correcting the problem, and that is still true today.”
View original article.
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