Gnaden residents warned of lead in water

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By J. Ann Tipton, T-R Staff Writer

GNADENHUTTEN – Village residents received two pieces of mail this week alerting them that testing has shown elevated levels of lead in the tap water of at least one home in the community.

The mailing, a letter and informational pamphlet delivered separately to every postal box holder in Gnadenhutten, explained that routine samples taken from consumers’ taps were tested for lead and copper.

Village Administrator Chris Edwards said one out of the 10 samples taken in September exceeded the level where the Environmental Protection Agency requires action be taken. The “EPA’s action level” is 15 parts per billion, or .015 milligrams, of lead per liter of water. Read more

Think green? Think again.

Waste Management advertising was prominently featured throughout the Ohio High School Football Championships on scoreboards, and as depicted here, an inside back cover color ad from the official OSHAA State Championships game program.

Health board still fighting transfer station
By Gregory Korte Enquirer staff writer
Weds., Dec. 14, 2005

The Cincinnati Board of Health is continuing its quixotic battle against garbage, voting 7-1 on Tuesday to deny a permit for a waste transfer station in Winton Place.

It was the fifth time since 2001 that the Board of Health voted to deny the permit to Waste Management of Ohio, which owns the former Environmental Land Development Association landfill on Este Avenue. The first four times, the garbage hauler won the permit on appeal to the state.

The difference this time, environmental activists say, is that Cincinnati City Council is considering an environmental justice ordinance that would require the city to take health risks into account before issuing building or zoning permits for a pollution-generating facility – especially in Mill Creek neighborhoods already polluted by more than a century of industrial contamination. . Read more

Ohio among worst U.S. impaired waterbodies

Source: scorecard.org

Bill addresses overlooked landfills

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Thurs., Dec. 15, 2005
By Robert Wang Repository Staff Writer

The Exit C&D landfill in Osnaburg Township is ordered shut down because of health violations, but the operators don’t have the money to seal it off.

Hydrogen sulfide gas from construction and demolition, or C&D, debris sickens residents in Wayne County, Sugar Creek Township and Warren. But the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has virtually no regulations written on how to deal with it. Read more

Ohio's bad air – State's health risk from industrial pollution leads nation

By John Seewer, Associated Press Writer

LIMA – Angela DeWitt had a stack of unpacked boxes in her garage, yet she was thinking about moving.

Her 7-year-old daughter, Jessica, came home early from school twice in the two weeks since they moved because her asthma attacks became more severe, leaving her struggling to breathe. Two-year-old Lucas’ attacks were so bad that he was throwing up. Read more

ohiolandfills.blogspot.com

EPA map: Ohio hazardous waste sites

Green = Documented Hazardous Waste sites
Make your own EPA pollution maps by zip code.

State landfill regulation moves forward

By Paul E. Kostyu, Copley Columbus Bureau Chief

COLUMBUS - Legislation that will bring sweeping regulation of landfills where none existed before moved from the Ohio House to the Senate on Tuesday, but not without some disagreement between two Stark County Republicans.

House Bill 397, sponsored by State Rep. John Hagan, R-Marlboro Township, won overwhelming support from Democrats and Republicans alike, who called it much-needed legislation. The Ohio Environmental Council, which gave the bill its highest rating despite some reservations, said it would provide “first-ever protections for human health and the environment.”

The Senate is expected to pass the bill today. A spokesman for Gov. Bob Taft said the governor intends to sign it into law before the end of the year when a moratorium on new construction and demolition debris landfills expires.

But approval of the bill, which never seemed in doubt, stalled briefly when Republicans went into a caucus to consider an amendment by one of their own. State Rep. Randy Law, R-Warren, wanted to eliminate a grandfather clause that protects seven landfill applicants who filed for licenses just before the moratorium went into place. Under the legislation, they would not be covered by the new, stricter requirements for siting a landfill. . Read more

EPA map: Stark-Tuscarawas pollution sites

Red = Water Discharges
Orange = Superfund Sites
Green = Hazardous Waste
Cyan = Toxic Releases
Blue = Air Emissions
Check your community's pollution scorecard by zip code.

Pike Twp. Zoning meeting THURSDAY night 7pm

Grants galore, but Ohio still lags behind other states in redeveloping polluted sites

By Paul E. Kostyu, Copley Columbus Bureau Chief

COLUMBUS – When The Plain Dealer was looking for a place to build a $200-million newspaper printing and distribution facility, it looked in Cleveland, where its news and business offices are located.

Officials of the newspapers couldn’t find an unpolluted site big enough for the 600,000-square-foot facility. Read more

Whole tires dumped at Countywide LF

Click to enlarge

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, dumping whole tires has been banned from Ohio landfills since 1996. At least two (2) whole tires are visible in the above photo taken Nov. 10, 2005 (one at bottom left near bulldozer rear wheel; one at top right on bulldozer blade), and another whole tire appears below, all at the Countywide LF which is currently accepting MSW in cell #7.

Why do some citizens want tax money for ramp? [to Republic Services' Countywide Landfill]

Letter to the Editor,
Canton Repository
Monday, December 12, 2005

Why do the citizens of Stark and Tuscarawas counties want their tax money to be used to build a ramp for a multibillion-dollar company — Republic Services, headquartered in Florida (“New group seeks ramp to landfill,” Dec. 3)?

Why does Republic Services not pay for its own ramp, as promised. It is their landfill — Countywide landfill — and it is the trucks entering their landfill that cause the road safety hazards that citizens are complaining about. Why not ask law enforcement to cite the landfill trucks for their unsafe driving, littering and being overweight? Why should our tax money pay for a ramp that people claim is needed for safety reasons, when increased enforcement could solve many of the safety problems?

Even more disturbing is the fact that existing infrastructure in Ohio is in disrepair, such as the Interstate 77 interchange at Strasburg. Resources are scarce, and public funding to pay for a landfill ramp is corporate welfare. Republic Services should fund the ramp, not the hard-working, cash-strapped citizens of Stark and Tuscarawas counties.

Kay Huth, Bolivar

View original letter to the Editor
landfill

So you want into VAP, here’s how

By Paul E. Kostyu
Copley Columbus Bureau Chief

MASSILLON - There could be hundreds of brownfield sites spread across Stark and Tuscarawas counties waiting to be cleaned of their pollution and redeveloped. It’s hard to know the exact number, the amount and seriousness of pollution and the cost of cleanup.

One of them is the 350-acre Republic Technologies International site near the intersection of Ohio 21 and U.S. 30 in Massillon. Owners Steve and Dave DiPietro and Pete Bitzel are promoting it as a possible location for a casino operated by the Eastern Shawnee Native American tribe.

If they want to use Ohio’s Voluntary Action Program in the cleanup effort, here’s what they have to do: Read more

Like landfill leachate, the news is leaking out...

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The LF issues that we face as residents of Northeast Ohio are getting exposure west of the Mississippi. Our friends at the Texas Campaign for the Environment are presently featuring on their main landfills webpage, recent articles from the Canton Repository, the Dover-New Philadelphia Times-Reporter, and the Akron Beacon Journal. Club 3000 thanks TCE for spreading the word.

Visit TCE's informative blogs: Texas Trash Watch and TCE Enviro blog.

EPA’s program loses $1 million a year

Sunday, December 11, 2005
By Paul E. Kostyu, Copley Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - An Ohio EPA program touted as one of the best in the country for cleaning polluted land loses nearly $1 million a year and doesn’t do much cleaning.

The state has pumped more than $215 million in grants and loans into the program, trying to encourage private developers to participate. Another $40 million is to be awarded this month.

Yet, there’s been no rush. During the past 10 years, other states have redeveloped thousands of so-called brownfields. Ohio has 166. Twenty-six applications are pending, with some in the works for years.

The problem? Read more

A short story about Republic [Services, Inc.]

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Our homeowners association decided to go with another waste managment company for our subdivisions waste pickup. Republic refused to consider alternative pricing, or discounts, until the work was awarded to another firm. Now that over 1000 homeowners are cancelling services Republic has instituted a "new policy" that charges anyone cancelling their service a fee. No notification to customers, no public announcement - just a (very) hidden fee. I'm guessing it will be difficult for Republic to regain this contract when it is up for bid again in a few years. This type of decision is very short sighted in nature. What type of reputation will this action gain? Interesting way to run a company.

NOTE: This seemingly anecdotal post was anonymously authored on a Republic Service stock message board. Grains of salt, caveat legens, and all that...

Arsenic discharged from landfills, says Dartmouth research

A group of researchers at Dartmouth College have studied the concentrations of toxic metals at the former Coakley Landfill in North Hampton, N.H. They've found that while the level of iron and some other contaminants decreased, the level of arsenic slightly increased.

The researchers detail their calculations regarding the geochemical processes at this site over the last ten years in a paper published online on Nov. 23 by Environmental Science and Technology, a journal of the American Chemical Society.

This research could shed light on how arsenic pollutes groundwater near landfills, especially in areas where the landfill's organic material mixes with naturally occurring iron oxides. This process also may explain the high level of arsenic in drinking water in Bangladesh and other areas of Southeast Asia. Read more

WARNING unsafe drinking water

This sign was attached to a truck washing station located on the grounds of Republic Service's Countywide LF in East Sparta (Pike Township) Ohio, when this photo was taken on Nov. 10, 2005.