Landfill Watchdog - Club 3000

White House ‘of two minds’ in enforcing Clean Air Act

2007-10-16T05:42:00.000-04:00

By Juliet Eilperin
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON, DC - Although the Environmental Protection Agency joined in a legal settlement last week to force the largest power-plant pollution cleanup in U.S. history, the Bush administration signaled in the agreement that it has no intention of taking enforcement actions against the utility for the same kind of Clean Air Act violations in the future.

The language of the settlement indicates that the administration has not wavered in its distaste for a Clinton-era policy of using the law to force power plants to upgrade their pollution controls whenever they significantly update or expand a plant.

That marks a significant victory for the power industry, which has strenuously opposed the “New Source Review,” saying that it penalizes them for efficiency improvements that ultimately benefit consumers and the environment....Read more.

Ohio among nation’s top water polluters

2007-10-16T05:22:00.000-04:00

The Canton Repository

COLUMBUS (AP) - Ohio ranked first in the nation in the number of times its major factories and cities released an unauthorized amount of harmful chemicals and untreated sewage into waterways, according to a report released by an environmental group Thursday.

Cities and industrial facilities across the 50 states frequently deposited more pollution into the nation’s waterways than the 1972 federal Clean Water Act allows, said the report from the nonprofit group Environment Ohio.

The group looked at 2005 water pollution data from cities and industries that were deemed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to release a significant amount of toxins into major waterways....Read more.

Dover firm in top water polluters

2007-10-15T15:29:00.000-04:00

By Paul Kostyu
The Canton Repository

COLUMBUS - A Tuscarawas County company is one of the worst water polluters in the state and contributes to Ohio's rank as the worst state for water pollution violations, according to a report released on the 35th anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act.

Dover Chemical exceeded its water permit limits 10 times in 2005, the latest data available, according to Environment Ohio, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Forty-six of the 270 companies and city governments studied exceeded permit limits multiple times for what can be dumped in waterways.

The report details the reason Ohio ranks high on the national list of poor water quality, said Amy Gomberg, a spokesman for Environment Ohio....Read more.

Waste Management works on ‘green’ strategy

2007-10-15T15:18:00.000-04:00

By John Porretto
The Associated Press

HOUSTON, TX - Waste Management, the nation’s largest garbage hauler and landfill operator, plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next dozen years to make its operations more environmentally friendly.

The company plans to increase its energy production from waste, buy more fuel-efficient vehicles and more than double the amount of recyclable material it processes, among other initiatives.

Waste Management chief executive David Steiner is scheduled to announce the plan today at the World Business Forum in New York.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Steiner said the “green” strategy also will boost Waste Management’s bottom line. The company reported $13.4 billion in revenue in 2006....Read more.

Ring of fire

2007-10-15T11:41:00.000-04:00

The Akron Beacon Journal

PIKE TWP - Devising a solution to the problem of smoldering, smelly underground garbage at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in southern Stark County just got more difficult. In a letter last week to Republic Services about its Pike Township landfill, Chris Korleski, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, warned of new evidence that underground fires are spreading.

Korleski, whose agency is studying a long-term solution, wisely is calling for a greater degree of caution in landfill operations. He has ordered the company to shift the area where garbage is received farther north, away from older, covered sections where fires have broken out and appear to be spreading. In addition, a fire break, most likely a berm constructed with clay soils, would separate a new active area of the landfill from closed areas....Read more.

Escaped gas sickens workers

2007-10-12T11:01:00.000-04:00

BY Malcolm Hall
The Canton Repository

ALLIANCE - Regional health and safety officials are awaiting lab test results to determine what was in the gas that escaped from the Central Waste landfill earlier this week that made workers sick.

A construction crew from Beaver Excavating of Perry Township was excavating buried sludge and waste at the site and preparing to dispose of it in new burial cells when they became ill.

"There were some odors from the waste that made them feel dizzy," said Steve Roberts, project manager for the company. "As a precaution, we had them go to the hospital. We stopped work to do some investigation to determine the cause. We need to be certain we can proceed safely."...Read more.

Excavation done at old dump

2007-10-07T11:21:00.000-04:00

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

AKRON - A major milestone has been reached in the $60 million cleanup of a toxic-waste dump in northern Summit County.

The contractor, EQ Industrial Services Inc. of Wayne, Mich., has hauled away in excess of 225,000 tons of contaminated soil and debris from two parcels off Hines Hill Road in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The work to stabilize the dump that was owned and operated by the Krejci family took two years to complete.

The two tracts, together covering 47 acres, are on opposite sites off Hines Hill Road in Boston and Northfield Center townships. The sites are separated by Interstate 271....Read more.

Commissioners: Is EPA moving too slowly on Countywide fire?

2007-10-06T10:37:00.000-04:00

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - Tuscarawas County commissioners expressed their disappointment with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency regarding an ongoing underground landfill fire.

The comments came Friday during and after the board of directors meeting of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District. The issue arose regarding the Oct. 1 letter to officials of Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility near Bolivar about installing a firebreak as an interim fire suppression measure. OEPA Director Chris Korleski wrote to Countywide officials that the fire is migrating throughout the original 88 acres and possibly into Cell 7, which was the first cell of expansion....Read more.

Landfill fire may spread to new area, EPA warns

2007-10-06T10:10:00.000-04:00

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

PIKE TWP - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is convinced that underground fires in a 258-acre Stark County landfill are spreading throughout the landfill's original 88 acres.

EPA Director Chris Korleski, in a letter to Republic Services, said his agency is worried that the problems at Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township could spread into trash dumped in new areas of the landfill.

The dump runs along the east side of Interstate 77 south of Canton....Read more.

Landfill loses ground

2007-10-05T11:46:00.000-04:00

The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - In May, the Stark County Board of Health renewed the operating permit for the Countywide landfill in Pike Township for the rest of the year. Before the vote, Health Commissioner William Franks said his investigation of Countywide had focused on these areas: Did the landfill pose an imminent or long-term threat to public health or the environment; what state laws has the landfill violated; can it ever be brought back into compliance?

Franks' recommendation to keep Countywide open, and the board's unanimous decision to do so, meant essentially this: They believed that Countywide's owners had done, were doing and would do enough to ensure that the landfill would operate safely. Obviously they couldn't see into the future. But developments this week call the assessment into question....Read more.

EPA orders firebreaks to be installed at landfill

2007-10-05T11:34:00.000-04:00

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

EAST SPARTA - Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility in Pike Township, Stark County, has been instructed by Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Chris Korleski to install a firebreak between cells 8A and 8B.

The letter from Korleski was sent Monday. In the letter he instructed Republic Services of Florida, Countywide’s parent company, to install a firebreak as an interim fire suppression measure.

Countywide submitted data on March 28 in correlation with the OEPA director’s final findings and orders. Analysis of the data led the director to conclude that the fire is migrating beyond the original 88 acres and possibly into the expansion area (cell 7). Cell 8B is a new cell being prepared for future waste disposal.

Korleski said the firebreak is required to be installed to protect human health, safety and environment....Read more.

EPA tells landfill to install firebreak

2007-10-05T11:21:00.000-04:00

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that an underground fire is spreading throughout the original 88 acres of the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility.

In a letter dated Monday, EPA Director Chris Korleski said that the fire could be moving into Cell 7, the first constructed section of the landfill's 170-acre expansion, which began taking waste in early 2005.

Korleski has ordered the landfill to take safety precautions - one in the form of a cleared strip of land - to keep the fire from spreading.

"In an effort to prevent further spread of the fire and to avoid adding additional fuel (waste) to the fire, I believe installation of a firebreak is required to protect human health, safety and the environment," Korleski wrote....Read more.

Wells may pose threat at Lowell landfill

2007-09-28T11:04:00.000-04:00

By John Byrne
The Post-Tribune

LOWELL, IN - An investigation into pollution levels at the Feddeler landfill may actually have made the pollution worse, according to state officials.

Arguing wells dug at the Feddeler site last year by Lake County environmental contractors could contribute to water contamination, the state Department of Environmental Management has threatened to fine the Lake County Sheriff's Department up to $25,000 per day.

State officials contend the Sheriff's Department overstepped its authority and violated environmental statutes last year while investigating whether chemical discharges from the long-dormant landfill north of Indiana 2 were fouling the air or groundwater around Lowell....Read more.

Company gets green light for landfill near Bennett

2007-09-26T22:20:00.000-04:00

By Bill Scanlon
Rocky Mountain News

BRIGHTON, CO - Thirty angry homeowners on Wednesday lost their bid to stop construction of a landfill near them, but at least they got a public apology from the dump's owner.

"These residents deserve an apology from us for starting the work unannounced," said John Griffith, president of Alpine Waste & Recycling, during a public hearing. "It was a poor move on our part."

Alpine's bulldozers showed up Saturday morning in the neighborhood north of Bennett and six miles east of Denver International Airport. Surprised homeowners complained they were not told a dump was planned near them and said the noise, dust, odor and traffic would lower property values....Read more.

Landfill plan bulldozed them, Adams County homeowners say

2007-09-26T21:52:00.000-04:00

By Bill Scanlon
Rocky Mountain News

ADAMS COUNTY, CO - After years of living next to a wheat farm, homeowners near Bennett saw their new neighbors arrive this weekend - on bulldozers.

A landfill is being dug near them, six miles east of Denver International Airport.

"We're not happy. I don't even know what the smell is going to be like," said Flora Sweed, who lives on a 35-acre property on Schumacher Road near 80th Avenue, across from where the bulldozers started grading the land....Read more.

Potential changes in solid waste district discussed at meeting

2007-09-22T10:39:00.000-04:00

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - What changes would be in store for the board of directors if the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District converted to a regional solid waste authority were discussed Friday at the district’s policy committee meeting.

Several months ago Wayne County Commissioner Ann Obrecht asked for an explanation about the conversion process. After researching the matter, attorney Adam Webber of Black McCuskey Sours and Arbaugh at Canton and Dover reported that the board was allowed to veto a resolution that would make the change.

According to Webber, the policy committee or a governmental entity could request the board to adopt a resolution. The board could then choose to veto the resolution or adopt it to move forward with the conversion....Read more.

EPA to target top Ohio polluters

2007-09-18T22:27:00.000-04:00

BY Paul Kostyu
The Canton Repository

COLUMBUS - For too long Ohio has rated too high among states in the release of toxic emissions, according to the director of the Ohio EPA.

On the 35th anniversary of the agency, Chris Korleski, an Alliance native, announced an initiative he’s calling Tox Minus.

“Every year, Ohio is very, very high on the (federal) Toxic Release Inventory list, especially with air issues,” he told staff at an agency-wide meeting today. “That ain’t helping. That isn’t helping public health; it isn’t helping the public perception of the agency; it isn’t helping economic development. No one wants to invest in a dirty state.”...Read more.

Will e-waste recycling take place year-round?

2007-09-15T08:15:00.000-04:00

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - The pile of obsolete televisions, computers and other equipment grew quickly at Stark State College of Technology in Jackson Township.

After a three-day collection in August, the local waste district had about 20 semitruck loads of discarded electronic devices, more than double the collection of the prior year.

Reluctant to send their old monitors, printers, TVs and VCRs to the local landfill, residents waited up to an hour to dispose of the items, so the waste district could have it recycled. Cars lined up all the way up Frank Avenue NW to University Street NW. Extra people had to be called in to handle the waste....Read more.

County, landfill settle case

2007-09-13T08:41:00.000-04:00

BY Kelli Young
The Canton Repository

SANDY TWP - Owners of a Sandy Township landfill that is higher and steeper than its approved limits have agreed to a settlement with the county health department that ensures the violations don’t happen again.

Minerva Enterprises also must pay a $48,264 civil penalty.

Kirk Norris, director of environmental health for the Stark County Health Department, said sections of the landfill at 8955 Minerva Rd. SE are “15 to 30 feet over the maximum elevation that was approved.” About 25 acres of the 110-acre landfill are being used....Read more.

Smell test

2007-09-11T12:35:00.000-04:00

The Akron Beacon Journal

PIKE TWP - In March, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ordered Republic Waste Services to extinguish underground fires fueled by a chemical reaction at its landfill in southern Stark County. The agency has in mind halting the foul odors emanating from the Countywide landfill for the past year, harming the quality of life for neighboring communities. The company presented a plan in May that called for sealing the smoldering area with a cap of clay, the fires ending in three years to six years.

As Bob Downing, a Beacon Journal staff writer, reported, the agency and the company since have engaged in a dialogue examining courses of action. Republic Waste Services has raised questions about the feasibility of injecting fire-suppressant compounds into the affected section of the landfill. A third option involves excavating the troubled area, covering 88 acres of garbage. Both the injection and excavation are more expensive than installing the cap....Read more.

Fumes at Stark landfill difficult to stop

2007-09-10T11:24:00.000-04:00

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

PIKE TWP - It might be impossible to halt through chemical injection the reaction behind smoldering underground fires at a Stark County landfill.

Preliminary research conducted by landfill owner Republic Waste Services of Ohio indicates that none of five compounds tested in a laboratory would halt the chemical reactions taking place inside the 258-acre Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.

Shaw Environmental Inc., at its New Jersey laboratory, tested three compounds magnesium chloride, sodium silicate and sodium phosphate, all salt-like materials and two commercially available products FirstStrike mine firefighting foam and FlameOut concentrate.

''None of the compounds tested had an effect in controlling or suppressing the aluminum reaction,'' landfill manager Tim Vandersall said in a July 10 letter....Read more.

Waste district wants to stay informed about landfill

2007-09-08T04:35:00.000-04:00

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - Area officials asked to be kept in the loop about any problems regarding I-77 and a nearby landfill.

At Friday’s meeting of the board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District, Tuscarawas County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl asked the district to contact the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. He wants to make sure the district is kept informed about any landfill settlement in the west slope of Countywide Recycling and Disposal facility and any additional measures to be taken. He said OEPA has made it an issue....Read more.

Tension over landfill cracks

2007-09-08T04:03:00.000-04:00

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - Concerns were raised Friday about potential landslides at a landfill next to Interstate 77 in southern Stark County.

However, a spokesman for the owner of the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township said there is no problem.

At a meeting of the governing board of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Solid Waste Management District, Club 3000, a Bolivar-based grass-roots organization, brought up the issue of tension cracks at the landfill....Read more.

Semi catches fire near Waynesburg

2007-09-07T11:18:00.000-04:00

The Canton Repository

WAYNESBURG - A portion of Route 43 was shut down about 20 minutes Wednesday afternoon when the brakes failed on this tractor-trailer, causing it to catch fire, said Magnolia Police Chief Jeff Hager. The fire broke out shortly after 4:30 p.m. as the truck, owned by North Atlantic of New York, headed south on Route 43 at Route 44 to the American Landfill with a load of garbage, he said. The driver, who was not injured, pulled off the right side of the road. Patrolman Martin Kiss helped the driver detach the tractor from the burning trailer before the tires on the right side of the trailer exploded....Read more.

EPA probes risks to I-77

2007-09-05T07:38:00.000-04:00

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is looking into whether tension cracks and possible slope movement at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility could affect nearby Interstate 77.

In a letter to the landfill dated Aug. 22, the agency recommended that Countywide by Aug. 27 start installing a series of instruments along its west slope to measure movement of decomposing trash.

EPA spokesman Mike Settles said Tuesday that he believes agency inspectors found tension cracks at the landfill in early August....Read more.