Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005, at the Ohio Statehouse

Akron Beacon Journal
Associated Press

A House committee unanimously recommended passage of a bill that would require landfills for construction debris to sit farther away from houses and natural resources and have better monitoring of pollutants.

Members rejected attempts to keep the landfills farther from waterways and to remove a clause that would allow five applications pending across the state to go forward, two of which were filed this year.

Rep. Thom Collier, a Mount Vernon Republican and the committee chairman, said House leadership still will consider an amendment suggested by Sen. Timothy Grendell, a Geauga County Republican, that would allow the applications to go forward only if the property already has the correct zoning.

Landfills that accept wood, bricks and other building materials from construction and demolition sites now can be placed 50 feet from a home. The new law would require a 500 foot setback, plus a 6-foot-tall barrier. The landfill also must be set 100 feet from the owner's property line.

Construction landfills were originally thought to contain less harmful waste than municipal landfills, but the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has found toxins such as lead, which can come from fluorescent lights, and arsenic from treated wood in water that runs through the sites after rainstorms. Residents also have complained of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, which smells like rotten eggs, forming when pulverized drywall gets wet.

The full House will take up the measure next week. A Senate committee began hearings on an identical bill so members can take up the House version and move it quickly if it passes. The Legislature adjourns until January after next Wednesday, and a moratorium on new construction landfills under the old rules expires Jan. 1 [2006].

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