Saturday, December 03, 2005

 

New group seeks ramp to landfill

By Kelli Young Repository STAFF WRITER

BOLIVAR - Pike Township residents began nearly a decade ago asking the region’s solid waste district to rid their neighborhood roads of smelly, noisy and dirty garbage trucks.

They’ve attended Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District meetings en masse and individually to beg the board to fund construction of an Interstate 77 ramp, which would direct the trucks to the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility and away from roads near their homes.

Residents renewed their plea for the ramp Friday — this time with a more unified voice.

They have formed the group, Ramp Access Means Progress and Safety (RAMP), to lobby for the ramp’s construction at Gracemont Street SW.

But the new group’s objective may undermine the mission of a decades-old, environmental citizen’s group that wants to keep the landfill from expanding.

“If the board says, ‘Let’s do the ramp,’ then you have practically endorsed the expansion of the landfill,” said attorney Robert G. Rubin, who represents the older group, Club 3000.

“A ramp doesn’t solve the problem. A ramp just makes it easier for them to mine the gold,” said Rubin, during his comments about recent appeals court rulings.

LANDFILL: A FEW YEARS LEFT

Club 3000 members believe that by stopping Countywide’s expansion, truck traffic will cease because the landfill will be too full to accept any more waste. Tim Vandersall, general manager of Countywide’s owner Republic Waste Services of Ohio, said after the meeting that the landfill has “a few years of life” left without expansion. He said the company has been working on the expanded section for more than a year.

RAMP members said they don’t want the landfill to expand, but they fear for their safety because semis slide on the hills when it snows. The problem, they say, has been going on for years.

In April, the solid waste board voted to withdraw the $3 million it had set aside for the new ramp. Some board members at the time believed a settlement agreement between Republic Waste and Pike Township in September 2004 obligated Republic to pay for the ramp.

The settlement said Pike officials would agree to drop its objection to the landfill’s 170-acre expansion if Republic agreed to pay the costs of the ramp not covered by government funding.

CASES reopened

That deal was put in jeopardy this week when the Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals essentially reopened three court cases related to the landfill.

In one of the cases, the appeals panel directed Stark County Common Pleas Judge Lee Sinclair to reconsider whether a Bolivar resident who owns a farm next to the landfill should be able to contest the consent agreement. If so, Sinclair then must determine whether the resident has good reasons not to execute the settlement.

In other business, Executive Director David Held reported to the board that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s deadline to complete the joint 10-year waste disposal and recycling plan has been extended from Dec. 31 to March 31.

Held said the deadline extension also allows the district to more fully develop and adopt new landfill and waste facility regulations.

Reach Repository writer Kelli Young at (330) 580-8339.

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Attorney Stirs Emotions at Waste District Board Meeting

By BARB LIMBACHER,T-R Staff Correspondent

BOLIVAR – Remarks by Club 3000 attorney Robert Rubin generated ire and a response from Countywide Recycling and Disposal officials after Friday’s board of directors meeting of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District.

During the landfill committee report, Rubin addressed the board about a ruling Tuesday by the Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals regarding a proposal to expand the landfill.

Board members did not ask Rubin to discuss the matter. Prior to Rubin’s explanation, waste district attorney Vic Marsh said this type of case is usually lumped together, but for some reason it didn’t follow normal procedure. Instead, four different Stark County Common Pleas Court judges – Lee Sinclair, Charles Brown, John Haas and Sara Lioi – had presided over different cases filed regarding the expansion.

In September 2004, Countywide RDF was issued a conditional use permit to expand by 170 acres. A deal was made with Pike Township trustees at a meeting held in the Stark County prosecutor’s office. In return, Countywide agreed to fund an I-77 on-off ramp at Gracemont St. The company also agreed to abide by an earlier decision with the solid waste district to not accept out-of-state waste.

That July, the Pike Township Board of Zoning Appeals had denied the expansion of the landfill, located at 3619 Gracemont St. SW, East Sparta, in Stark County. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency had approved the expansion in June 2003. An expansion would increase the landfill to 258 acres.

In August 2004, the board of zoning appeals granted a request to permit Countywide to expand by 25 percent – or 25 acres – by issuing a non-conforming use certificate. Countywide officials claimed the request should be granted because the facility was there before new zoning regulations went into effect. The company also said it is a public utility and exempt from zoning laws.

Earlier this week, the Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals directed Sinclair to vacate the September 2004 settlement agreement between Republic Services of Ohio, owner of Countywide, and Pike Township that allowed the expansion of Countywide to move forward.

The court said Sinclair should have allowed Fred Charton, a resident of Lawrence Township of Tuscarawas County, to contest the agreement and consider his motion to be named a party in the case.

Judge Haas, the district court ruled, dismissed Charton’s appeal of the Pike Township BZA decision too early, saying the judge should have ruled first on whether the board had to hold a hearing before making its decision.

The court also instructed Judge Lioi to change her decision denying Charton’s motion seeking to be named a party in another case where Republic had appealed a BZA denial of a permit to allow the landfill to expand by 170 acres.

Also, the district court ruled in favor of Republic, that a previous agreement does not require landfill officials to allow Club 3000, an area grassroots environmental group, to inspect the landfill beyond its original 88 acres. Judge Brown had ruled Club 3000 was allowed to monitor and inspect all parts of the landfill.

Rubin said during the meeting that 500 garbage trucks travel to Countywide per day. “That is a truck a minute, six days a week for the next 40 years coming into your area if they continue to expand,” he said. “It affects quality of life and a natural resource – our water. You will never see a landfill in Jackson or Plain townships in Stark County. However, Ohio is becoming the landfill capital of the United States. The company that owns Republic is located in Florida.

“Pike Township’s zoning states you can’t go beyond 100 acres of land use at one time. Countywide wants 170 acres,” he said. “The merits on these cases have not been decided and are going back to the individual judges.”

Frank Reed, an attorney for Countywide RDF, said the legal battle will continue to clog up the courts.

Because Countywide officials were not aware Rubin or Marsh was going to speak, they supplied information after the meeting.

According to Countywide, the 5th District Court of Appeals issued decisions in four cases Tuesday. The four Stark County judges had previously ruled in favor of permitting Countywide to proceed with the expansion.

An audience member asked what the solid waste district’s role is in the appeals court’s decision.

“What is our role? To be made aware,” said Cheryl Noah, Wayne County commissioner and board chairwoman. “The law does not rely on us for a decision. We can voice our opinions, but
we have no legal authority in this action."

Friday, December 02, 2005

 

Ohio Senator Marc Dann: The Landfill Problem












Sen. Marc Dann (D) at a recent visit to an Ohio LF (above, right)

Posted by admin
Tuesday 18 October 2005 - 11:53:16

The Ohio EPA has found dangerous substances in the nearly seventy construction and demolition debris landfills throughout the state. From the Akron Beacon Journal: (reg. req'd)

The tests have found disturbing levels of toxic chemicals, including arsenic and lead, at all nine landfills tested. The tests also discovered the presence of pesticides and volatile organic compounds, which contribute to ozone air pollution and are not expected to be found in groundwater.

These lightly regulated landfills have become popular with out-of-state dumpers. Because our dumps are so inexpenisve, it's more cost effective to ship construction waste by rail to Ohio from the East Coast, than it is for these out-of-state firms to dump locally. Not only could this present a health problem to the people of Ohio but they represent another symptom of Ohio's crony culture brought about by the GOP monopoly of state government. From the Canton Repository: (reg. req'd.)

The state gave tax-exempt status for $30 million in bonds to be sold by a company [Republic Services of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,] that operates trash facilities in Ohio even as people complain about their state being the land of landfills. [brackets in original].

Who is the GOP really working for? It can't be Ohio residents. Not when they allow a company to reduce its tax bruden [sic] by importing lead and arsenic laden garbage in to the Buckeye state.

 

Countywide LF cell #7 activity

 

Landfill Bill will be a real choice between public interest and special interests

By Sen. Marc Dann (D) Liberty Twp.
Thursday, December 01, 2005

It's taken me a couple of days from tuesday's "interested party" (80% industry, 15% environmentalist, 5% Legislators) about the Counstruction and Demolition Waste Regulation bill (HB 397) to remain calm enough to write about it. Tribune-Chronicle Story here.

The bill is actually quite good and solves a serious problem.

Our lack of regulation of the construction and demolition waste industry has encouraged 7 million tons of east coast waste into Ohio each year [emphasis added]. This is the kind of economic development we can do with out. In Warren Township, Ohio, in my district we now have the U.S. EPA cleaning up one such site super fund style after the mishandling of waste caused a public health emergency verified by the center for disease control.

But now the leaders of our state want to exempt 7 politically connected waste operators who had applications pending before a recent moritorium was imposed on new dumps from the new, tougher regulations. It is a classic example of pay to play. Channel 5 in Cleveland detail previous pay to play success stories from this industry (here and here).

We cannot let this happen again. We are working on a strategy now to prevent this effort to put the special interests ahead of the public interest. More to come...

Thursday, December 01, 2005

 

ATTEND JOINT WASTE MEETING TOMORROW - Dec. 2, 2005 at 9:30am

.
Vic March, attorney for the Tri-County Joint Waste District, and Robert Rubin, attorney for Club 3000, are both on the agenda as speakers at the next Tri-County Joint Waste District meeting, scheduled for TOMORROW Friday, December 2, 2005 at 9:30am.

Messrs. March and Rubin will discuss the opinions recently issued by the Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals.

The specter of Landfill Expansion looms in our communities and contaminated drinking water remains a threat to us all.

Let your voice be heard and be part of the solution. Please attend this meeting and offer the JWD Board of Directors your remarks.

Fifth District Appellate Court's opinion in Fred Charton v. Pike Township BZA, et al.

 

Economic Development and Environment Committee Notice

Chairman: Thom Collier (R)

DATE: Wednesday, December 7, 2005
TIME: 1:00 P.M. *****TIME CHANGE
ROOM: 017

HB 417 SUBJECT: Moratorium on MSW LF permits and expansion

1st Hearing
Sponsor - W. Scott Oelslager (R)

HB 397 SUBJECT: Construction demolition debris regulations

*4th Hearing
Sponsor - John P. Hagan (R)

Pro/Op/IP

*POSSIBLE VOTE

Please submit 30 copies of written documentation when testifying in committee.

Please submit 30 copies of any amendments to the Chair’s office by noon on Tuesday before committee.

 

Environment and Natural Resources Committee Notice

To: Members of Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee
From: Senator Tom Niehaus, Chair
Date: December 1, 2005

The Environment and Natural Resources Committee will meet on the following dates in Room 110.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005
2:30 P.M., or after session

AGENDA

S.B. 234 Construction and Demolition Debris Regulations
1st Hearing *
Niehaus
Sponsor

Prop./Opp./IP

*Pending Referral

Wednesday, December 7, 2005
2:30 P.M., or after session

AGENDA

S.B. 234 Construction and Demolition Debris Regulations
2nd Hearing
Niehaus

Prop./Opp./IP

If you plan to testify, please provide 20 copies of written testimony to the Committee Secretary before testifying.

All amendments must be submitted 24 hours in advance of the scheduled meeting.

 

Landfill bill gets more debate

By Stephen Oravecz
Warren Tribune Chronicle
November 30, 2005

COLUMBUS - Both sides in the debate over construction and demolition debris landfills agree there is an issue of fairness involved when it comes to exempting certain facilities from proposed rules limiting where they can be located. The question is fair to whom, the owners or the public? Or as Sen. Marc Dann, D-Liberty, put it, the special interests or the public interest?

The issue was one of several debated at a meeting Tuesday of about 40 people with some interest in a bill that would stiffen regulations on the C&DD landfills. They included industry representatives, lawmakers, citizens, local officials, regulators and an environmental group.

The Legislature is trying to pass the bill before a moratorium on new C&DD landfills expires Dec. 31.

At the meeting, Rep. Randy Law, R-Warren, proposed several changes in the current draft of the legislation, including a proposal to eliminate a grandfather clause that would exempt six or seven proposed landfills - including facilities in Girard and Hubbard Township - from the new siting regulations.

State Sen. Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, countered that the Legislature has a moral obligation to owners who applied for a license before the state imposed the moratorium on new facilities July 1.

Niehaus said some of those owners have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in developing the facilities, and it is not fair to require them to abide by new siting rules included in C&DD landfill bill. He said that discourages other new businesses from coming to Ohio.

Law said he agreed lawmakers have a moral obligation, but it is to the citizens who would live near the landfills, not the owners.

Anthony A. Latell Jr., a former state senator from Girard, said he wished Niehaus had looked at how fair the bill is to people who have invested millions of dollars in their homes that will lose value because of a new landfill. He said businesses also will be hurt by having a landfill nearby.

Latell said his family has tried to invest in the small city that is struggling and the bill as it stood "would take that away.'' A new Girard landfill would be located near the Latell's family business, the Creekside Golf Dome.

Law and Rep. Sandra Stabile Harwood, D-Niles, objected to the grandfather clause because it was not included in the recommendations of a special study commission that recommended the new regulations.

In the end, the bill's sponsor, Rep John Hagan R-Alliance, said he will probably stick with some form of grandfather clause.

The discussion turned bitter at times. Latell said all the changes being made seemed to favor industry, a notion that brought a rebuke from Rep. Thom Collier, R-Mount Vernon, who is chairman of the committee holding hearings on the bill.

Law said all of the owners who the grandfather clause covered submitted their applications in June when they heard the moratorium was coming. Earlier, he had asked how many landfills would be affected by the waiting period and said he was told none.

Niehaus said Dann objects to the grandfather clause because he is targeting the landfill in Girard proposed by Total Waste Logistics LLC. Ironically, Guy Fragle, director of landfill operations for the company, said the siting regulations in the current draft of the bill would not stop the proposed landfill, which would be located between the Mahoning River and the Creekside Golf Dome.

Fragle said the grandfather clause was not put into the bill to favor him.

Law also proposed increasing the buffer between the landfills and occupied dwelling from the current 500-foot proposal to 1,000. He also wanted it to cover more kinds of buildings and businesses.

Hagan said that could be a deal killer, making it impossible to pass the bill this year with an emergency clause so that it will take effect Jan. 1 when the moratorium expires.

Hagan, whose district includes a problem landfill, said there are lots of things he would like to put in the bill, but it would never pass. He said there is not a lot of leeway in getting it through the House and Senate this year.

Another proposal from Law and Harwood called for increasing the buffer between landfills and rivers from the current 100-foot proposal to 500 feet. Fragle said that distance would not affect his plans either.

Collier said the committee is likely to consider setbacks before the bill goes to the House for a vote, probably on Dec. 13. He also said lawmakers will consider a request from the industry to give a few small landfills some relief from monitoring costs. These landfills in question would be closing because they are almost full.

 

City faces crisis over garbage

The city health board will meet at 3 p.m. today.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005
By Peter H. Milliken
Youngstown Vindicator Trumbull Staff

WARREN — With the Warren Recycling transfer station's license expiring at the end of the year, the city could be facing a garbage disposal crisis.

"This is something we need to address very seriously," Robert Pinti, deputy city health commissioner, told city council's health and welfare committee Tuesday.

"In 30 days, you need a transfer facility that is licenseable," he added.

The city's environmental services department picks up residential and commercial garbage in the city. The WRI transfer station is a place where garbage collected in city-owned trucks is loaded onto larger trucks to be taken to Browning-Ferris Industries Poland landfill.

"If you have no place to transfer your garbage, that obviously is an emergency," said Deputy City Law Director Jim Ries.

"In the short term, on an emergency basis, you'd have to enter into contract with some landfill or something to take it and then figure out what you want to do and get some sort of long-term contract," Ries told the committee.

Health board decision

The city health board must decide whether to issue a 2006 operating license for the Warren Recycling Inc. transfer station.

Last month, the Ohio EPA urged the board to postpone its decision pending the outcome of the agency's annual background check of the transfer station's operators.

Pinti said an Ohio EPA official promised Tuesday that the agency will fax him a letter on the matter before the health board's meeting at 3 p.m. today.

If the WRI facility isn't licensed and can't operate after Jan. 1, Renee Cicero, the city's environmental services manager, said the closest transfer station is Total Waste Logistics in Girard.

"That would be where we would probably have to take it on an emergency basis," she said.

Each of the city's eight garbage hauling trucks would have to make two daily round trips to that station over designated truck routes, she said.

If the city can't use the WRI station, overtime, fuel and vehicle maintenance costs will rise dramatically, Cicero said. "The trucks are not built for long haul," she added.
Own station

Councilman James ''Doc" Pugh, D-6th, committee chairman, advocated having the city establish its own transfer station, which he said could be done for less than $500,000.

But Pinti said it would take the city considerably longer than 30 days to build and open its own transfer station. The last estimate on the cost of building a transfer station was $3 million at least three years ago, he added.

"Who wants a transfer station in your ward?," asked Councilman Gary Fonce, D-at large, calling for a show of hands among his colleagues representing wards.

No council members raised their hands.

 

Club 3000 views pump control readings


Club 3000 representative, Dick Harvey, views readings at a pump control panel near Cell #7 during a Nov. 10, 2005 monitoring inspection at Republic Services' Countywide LF located in Pike Township (East Sparta) Ohio.

.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

 

Countywide landfill foes win on appeal to block expansion

By Robert Wang
Canton Repository Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005

CANTON - The 170-acre expansion under way at the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility in Pike Township may again be in legal jeopardy, due to appeals court rulings handed down Monday.

The Ohio 5th District Court of Appeals directed Stark County Common Pleas Judge Lee Sinclair to vacate a September 2004 settlement agreement between the landfill’s owner, Republic Services of Ohio, and Pike Township that allowed the expansion to move forward.

Appeals Judges John Boggins, W. Scott Gwin and John Wise said that Sinclair should have allowed Fred Charton, a Bolivar resident who owns a farm next to the landfill, to contest the agreement. They ordered Sinclair to consider Charton’s motion to be named a party in the case.

“We’re back in the game,” said Charton’s attorney, Patrick Cusma. “I’m flabbergasted. ... at least my clients will have their day in court.”

Republic spokesman Will Flower said the company wanted to review the rulings before commenting.

The panel also found that Stark County Common Pleas Judge John Haas prematurely dismissed Charton’s appeal of the Pike Township Board of Zoning Appeal’s ruling in August 2004 that allowed Countywide to expand by 25 acres. It returned the case to Haas, saying the judge should have ruled first on whether the board had to hold a hearing before making its decision.

It also ordered Stark County Common Pleas Judge Sara Lioi to reverse her decision denying Charton’s motion seeking to be named a party in another case. That’s where Republic appealed the Board of Zoning Appeals’ denial in July 2004 of a permit that would allow the landfill to expand by 170 acres.

But in the settlement, Pike Township officials agreed to set aside the denial if Republic agreed to fund an Interstate 77 ramp off Gracemont Street SW. That would allow garbage trucks on the way to Countywide to bypass local neighborhoods.
The appeals court decisions now open the way for the settlement to be thrown out. That could mean the Board of Zoning Appeals’ ruling denying the 170-acre expansion would apparently go back into effect.

Republic did win one victory. The three-judge panel said contrary to a ruling by Stark County Common Pleas Judge Charles Brown, an agreement did not require Republic to allow environmental group Club 3000 to inspect areas of the landfill beyond its original 88 acres.

But Robert G. Rubin, an attorney for Charton and Club 3000, said this may not matter.

“If it’s possible to prevail on the prevention of the expansion, then it’s not a great concern you would be prevented from inspecting.”

Reach Repository writer Robert Wang at (330) 580-8327 or e-mail: robert.wang@cantonrep.com