Countywide strikes a deal - Landfill owner agrees to pay $1.05 million in fines to OEPA
The Times-Reporter
EAST SPARTA – The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced an agreement with Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility at East Sparta Wednesday, in which the landfill will pay more than $1 million in fines and follow strict orders to abate its odor issue and stop its underground fires.
Countywide’s parent company, Republic Waste Services, has 60 days to submit a plan to snuff out underground fires at the landfill. The plan must be approved by the OEPA.
Countywide also must revise its odor control plan, assess the landfill’s integrity and perform weekly air quality sampling.
In all, Republic will pay $1,050,000 in fines, $250,000 of which will be used to created a Community Benefit Project Fund.
“What we’re thinking is that the people who live near the landfill, through community leaders and local government, can get together and deem what they think appropriate projects are,” OEPA Director Chris Korleski said from his Columbus office Wednesday. “Then they can submit them to us, and we’re going to be listening to those requests.”
The original 88 acres of the landfill are to close permanently, and Countywide will forfeit 15.5 million cubic yards of permitted “air space” in the process, scrapping previously approved plans for vertical expansion by dumping atop its original acreage.
The OEPA will retain the services of two consultants, Vytenis Babrauskas, a fire expert, and Carl E. Heltzel, a chemical expert, to verify data that is to be collected by Countywide per the agreement. The OEPA retains the right to sample in conjunction with Countywide’s testers and to bill the landfill for any outside consultants that may be needed in the future.
In a letter sent to Stark County Health Director William Franks, Korleski said the agreement with Republic nullified his earlier recommendation that Stark County Board of Health deny Countywide’s 2007 operating permit.
However, Korleski noted that the board should take into consideration several sections of law before making its final decision.
“It’s up to Stark County to wade through those statutes and look at other criteria that has to do with the landfill and its history,” he said, noting the landfill’s history of violations and its competency.
Will Flower, Republic spokesman, said his company was impressed with the speed that the OEPA used in the negotiation process.
“I think it’s clear this issue is high on their priority list,” Flower said. “It certainly is the No. 1 issue we’re dealing with within our company.
“We have two distinct operations going on at Countywide. First, our daily operation of a modern sanitary landfill in which we accept and dispose of 6,000 tons a day of society’s garbage. The second operation on that property is remediation of the chemical reaction that has taken place on the site and continues to occur.
“We’ve certainly had some success in reducing the number of odors and decreasing the number of odor-related complaints.”
Apparently, Countywide and Republic officials will continue to call the fires – as stated in the final findings that they agreed to – chemical reactions.
Flower said the agreement will have no impact on the Countywide’s daily operations.
Tuscarawas County commissioners said they received a complaint or two about the odors Wednesday, and they had mixed feelings about Korleski’s final findings and orders.
“It was expected that the director would leave an opening through this ‘negotiated agreement’ that if Countywide agreed to the findings and orders they would be on schedule for compliance,” Commissioner Kerry Metzger said. “It takes off the table his February recommendation to the Stark Board of Health to deny the license. It’s also giving them another 60 days to submit a plan. What have they been doing for the past year? It just seems like it will never stop.”
Commissioner Chris Abbuhl, who had sent a letter to Korleski asking that the OEPA review the weekly landfill visit and citation process, said he harbored some misgivings after Wednesday’s announcement shifted the focus back to the Stark health board.
“I’ve made it clear all along that the Stark County Board of Health has had the ability to act on Countywide’s permit without the Ohio EPA, and this just verifies that fact again,” Abbuhl said.
What concerned Abbuhl the most was that Stark may look favorably on Countywide because it has only gotten a handful of violations, most from the OEPA, in the past two years.
“It would stand to reason that if Stark County viewed its weekly landfill visits differently, then there would have been a history of violations at Countywide,” Abbuhl said. “Apparently the landfill has not been that compliant or we would not have this many problems. I still think if we hadn’t gotten the EPA involved, we would not be where we’re at now.”
Commissioner Jim Seldenright said that Abbuhl was just in his beliefs but added that the OEPA listed several violations on Countywide’s 2006 operating license.
“We’ve already been told Countywide did not operate in substantial compliance and its past performance is documented by EPA in these findings,” Seldenright said. “That gives Stark the opportunity for reasoning and denying the operating permit for this year, if they so choose.”
The findings, if read in order, detail in sequence how Countywide came to be out of compliance.
A call to Stark Health Director William Franks was not returned Wednesday. The Stark County Health Department is in the middle of a process to review Countywide’s application for a 2007 operating permit. According to one of Franks’ past statements, the review process, which started about a month ago, would take at least two months to complete.
