Saturday, January 14, 2006

 

Ohio House Committee proceedings - Jan. 18th




OHIO HOUSE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE

Wed., Jan. 18, 2006, 3 p.m.
Statehouse Room #017
Chair: Rep. Collier
(614) 466-1431



HB417: SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS (OELSLAGER W)
Regarding solid waste landfills-demolition debris facilities.
Second Hearing.

HB440: AIR QUALITY (STEWART J)
Revise definition of 'air quality facility.'
First Hearing.

HB262: SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL (LAW R)
Regarding daily logs of solid waste management facilities.
First Hearing.

 

Bolivar dam flood anniversary

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The I-77 and [State] Rt. 212 interchange at Bolivar (right) was submerged by flood waters in January last year.
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T-R photo by ........ Pat Burk
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The Countywide landfill is located directly across from Bolivar dam property (see below). Republic Services of Ohio II, LLC, owner of the dump, has unsuccessfully (to date) attempted to triple this dump's operational acreage, and increase its garbage intake capacity by ten-fold (1000%) with a proposed 170 acre expansion.

Stark County judge Lee Sinclair recently voided a deal struck between the dump operators and Pike Township Trustees to negate Township zoning for Countywide and triple the dump's operational acreage, while obligating Republic Services to pay for all costs (not covered by government funds) for a proposed I-77 dump ramp.

View the Times-Reporter photo gallery of the 2005 flood

View the Canton Repository photo gallery of the 2005 flood








View original article

 

Lordstown to appeal Lafarge landfill expansion

Council appealing Lafarge's license

By Jill Kovacs
Tribune Chronicle

LORDSTOWN - Village Council is nervous that the Lafarge North America plant on Newton Falls Bailey Road could expand. Council is preparing an appeal to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission under the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to challenge Lafarge's annual operating license.

The Trumbull County Board of Health approved the license with expansion rights in December.

"We submitted our 2006 license renewal with possible expansion should we choose to do so in the future,'' said Tim Page, business manger at Lafarge. "We have permitted 100 additional acres, but we don't know if we will expand.''

The license permits Lafarge to use additional land on its 375-acre site as a landfill. . . . Read more

 

"More and more East Coast garbage is being shipped to Ohio,..."

Don't fear rail freight in Morris; Long-distance routes through county not economical, they say

By Michael Daigle
DAILY RECORD
01/14/06

MORRIS COUNTY, N.J. - Economics, history and topography will have more to do with determining how much freight flows through Morris County on trains than the possible redevelopment of a rail line from Warren County to Scranton, Pa., for commuter rail service, transportation officials said.

But local critics of increased rail traffic through Morris still worry that long trains carting unsavory freight may yet become a detriment to the quality of life here. . . . Read more

Friday, January 13, 2006

 

Navy agrees to pay state $1.4 million for environmental damage

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The U.S. Navy will pay Rhode Island more than one million dollars to settle two lawsuits over environmental damage at former Navy property in North Kingstown.

The attorney general’s office announced the settlement today.

The Navy will pay $1.4m dollars for damage to the Allen Harbor Landfill and Calf Pasture Point, which it owned from 1939 to 2001. The Navy dumped trash, paint thinners, asbestos and other hazardous waste at the landfill for several decades.

The material leaked into the harbor, forcing the state to close it to shellfishing in 1984. The harbor remains closed, and groundwater in the area is contaminated.

North Kingstown now owns the properties.

 

Lax landfill results in criminal charges, injunction

By David E. Malloy
The Herald-Dispatch
Fri., Jan., 13, 2006

CANNONSBURG, Ky. -- The Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet filed for an injunction Thursday in Franklin Circuit Court against Cooksey Brothers Landfill to control water runoff called leachate from its closed landfill on Big Run Road, which caught fire last week. Read more

 

Judge voids landfill expansion deal

By Robert Wang
Copley Ohio Newspapers

CANTON – In a decision that affects the debate over whether to build an I-77 on-off ramp at Gracemont St. SW in East Sparta, a judge this week voided a September 2004 deal that allowed the nearby Pike Township landfill to expand by 170 acres.

Stark County Common Pleas Judge Lee Sinclair ruled Wednesday that Fred Charton, who owns land near the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility, should be named as a party in the lawsuit between Countywide and Pike Township.

“We’re in the fight now,” said Charton’s attorney Patrick Cusma. “My opinion is they don’t have a conditional use permit. ... They would have to quit dumping and working on the new portion of the landfill.” . . . Read more

 

Residents continue landfill opposition in Chemung County, N.Y.

By Greg Erbstoesser
01/12/2006

CHEMUNG, N.Y.-Residents opposed to the privately-contracted Chemung County landfill continued their objections at the Chemung Town council meeting Wednesday night.

And now they have new ammunition.

Residents complained that the town board arbitrarily removed the clerk of the town's Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board, Robin Stroman, who happens to be vice president of the anti-landfill citizens group, Residents for the Preservation of Lowman and Chemung. . . . Read more

 

N.Y. Landfill case argued in court

Judge says decision will be made within 60 days

This sign, carried by Joe Morrison of Lowman (right), warns that the landfill management deal might not be final. Star-Gazette Photo by Jennifer Kingsley

By Brooke J. Sherman
Star-Gazette
January 7, 2006

CHEMUNG, N.Y. - The Chemung area residents fighting Chemung County and its pact with a new landfill operator should hear within 60 days whether a judge agrees with their complaints.

Arguments were heard Friday in state Supreme Court in Elmira in a lawsuit filed by the Residents for the Preservation of Lowman and Chemung against Chemung County, the town of Chemung and Casella Waste Management. . . . Read more

Thursday, January 12, 2006

 

Garbage in (Jersey), garbage out (Ohio)

What your trash turns into, and how to improve the situation

Celeste Regal
Secaucus Reporter staff writer
01/09/2006

RECYCLE NOW – Louie Imperato, [left], is one of the many Department of Public Works employees that pick up recyclables from Monday through Friday throughout the town. . . . Read more

 

Pittsburgh citizens action group formed

Pittsburgh Daily Courier
By Judy Kroeger
Monday, January 9, 2006

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Citizens' Action for a Safe Environment-South does not believe the battle at Greenridge Reclamation has ended.

In November, the East Huntingdon Township landfill dropped plans to dispose of 12,000 cubic meters of uranium-contaminated ash that Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control planned to remove from a wastewater treatment lagoon in Allegheny Township. . . . Read more

 

Bottled water given to residents also C8-tainted

Thursday, January 12, 2006
Spencer Hunt
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

More than 1,000 southeastern Ohio residents were provided with bottled spring water after tests revealed that the wells providing their tap water were tainted with C8.

Then someone tested the spring water. It, too, contained C8. . . Read more

 

WTUZ FM 99.9 dump ramp poll


Vote in the WTUZ-FM dump ramp poll HERE!

 

Dump ramp draws more controversy

By Barb Limbacher
T-R Staff Correspondent

EAST SPARTA – Officials at Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility are ready to sit down with the Ohio Department of Transportation representatives to plan construction of an I-77 on-off ramp. But the facility is depending on the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District board of directors to provide some assistance.

Construction costs for the $17.4 million ramp at 3619 Gracemont St. SW became a main topic of discussion at a recent board meeting. The entire issue has been ongoing.

The federal government has agreed to pay $3 million and the solid waste district was expected to pay $3 million, with Countywide RDF picking up the remaining $11.4 million.
Read more

 

Mich. House Dems seek to dump trash imports

State Rep. Angerer pitches plan to increase trash-dumping fees, put moratorium on new landfills

Monroe News
By: Charles Slat
January 11. 2006 12:43PM

State Rep. Kathy Angerer, D-Dundee (Mich.), talks Tuesday morning from Ralph and Ann Burbridge’s back yard about her opposition to the expansion and construction of Michigan garbage dumps. Behind Rep. Angerer is the Vienna Junction landfill.

ERIE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The scene outside the sunroom of Ralph and Ann Burbridge’s Erie Township home is that of a man-made mountain.

"My husband has given it a name," Mrs. Burbridge said. "He calls it Mount Trashmore."

In reality, it’s Browning-Ferris Industries’ big Vienna Junction landfill near the state line, where tons of garbage find their final resting place each day. The landfill towers so high, it creates artificial sunsets for the Burbridges. . . . Read more

 

Envirocare has reported ties to Abramoff firm

Rogue lobbyist had ties to Utah - Envirocare: The N-waste firm did business with a former Abramoff company

By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Envirocare of Utah mounted a $4 million Washington lobbying effort in recent years and used Jack Abramoff's former firm as part of it.

Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds was one of 14 firms the Utah radioactive and hazardous waste company hired to push for contracts, funding and legislation. The effort included changes needed for the company's failed attempt to bring highly concentrated radioactive waste from government cleanups in Fernald, Ohio, and Niagara Falls, N.Y., to Utah. . . . Read more

 

Ohio EPA tells village to monitor methane again

Associated Press
via Akron Beacon Journal
Weds., Jan. 11, 2006

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has ordered a western Ohio village to resume monitoring methane levels after it told the state it would quit testing for the explosive gas, the agency said Wednesday. . . . Read more

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

 

Is Taft mulling a tipping rate raise?

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According to Catherine Kavanaugh of the Royal Oak (Mich.) Daily Tribune, Ohio is reportedly considering doubling its current $1.75 per ton tipping fees for solid waste dumped in landfills.

Read Ms. Kavanuagh's Daily-Tribune article, Democrats propose statewide vote to halt trash importing.
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Something smells rotten in Taunton

Landfill operators given deadline on odors
By Terence J. Downing Enterprise staff writer Jan. 11, 2006

TAUNTON, Mass. — Under a threat of legal action, officials from Waste Management and Minnesota Methane promised the City Council on Tuesday they will solve gas odors coming from the landfill. . . . Read more

Monday, January 09, 2006

 

Apex landfill takes what East Coast won't - "cradle to grave"











Steubenville Herald-Star
Monday, January 9, 2006

AMSTERDAM - The Apex Landfill has been open for business since Nov. 28, completing a saga that dates back more than a decade and involved different companies and different residents who opposed the landfill.

Now, a state-of-the-art facility that included development and expansion of a rail line is ramping up toward full-scale operations.

The landfill, situated on a 1,285-acre site, initially was being developed by a group of local businessmen, but wound up in the ownership of Liberty Waste Services LLC of Pittsburgh. Liberty serves East Coast customers by providing rail containers, transfer and transport to the Ohio landfills, where it also provides for transfer from the rails and disposal in the landfills. . . . Read more

 

Republic Services shake-up follows trash talk

Buddy Nevins
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 7, 2006

Did All Service Refuse Co. clean up its lobbying team after being accused of trashing Sunrise Commissioner Sheila Alu?

All Service's spokesman Will Flower said the garbage hauler doesn't talk about why employees are no longer working for the firm, calling such discussions "personnel matters."

But he confirmed this week that executive David Katz and lobbyists Howard Kusnick and Vinnie Grande are no longer getting paychecks from All Service.

The shake-up occurred in the wake of my column last August about the anonymous letters smearing Alu. . . . Read more

 

Ohio EPA issues 2006 fish advisory update

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OhioEPA
PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER
P.O. Box 1049, 122 S. Front St.
Columbus, OH 43216-1049
Tele: (614) 644-2160 Fax: (614) 644-2737

NEWS RELEASE
For Release: January 6, 2006
Media Contact: Linda Fee Oros, (614) 644-2160

A statewide advisory recommending a limit of one Ohio-caught sports fish meal per week continues for all Ohio water bodies due to mercury deposition in waterways, except in areas where there is a more restrictive advisory. The results of the latest advisories come from Ohio EPA's 2004 fish tissue sampling and evaluation. . Read more

Sunday, January 08, 2006

 

ODNR Stark County pollution potential map

Download the entire 51 page ODNR Stark County pollution potential report (includes high-resolution pollution potential map)

The Countywide and American landfills appear in the lower right quadrant of this Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) map, included in an extensive Stark County potential pollution report published by the ODNR. According to ODNR's data, both dump sites were designated as "higher" risks for pollution based on the ODNR "Pollution Potential Index." . . Read more

 

Tissue-thin, but they clog Ohio landfills

By Jane Prendergast
Cincinnati Enquirer staff writer

MONTGOMERY - An idea that began with a few residents wanting to recycle more plastic has grown into a pilot project, making Montgomery the first area community to help people recycle plastic grocery bags.

The three-month trial program allows residents to bring their plastic bags to the monthly cardboard recycling drop off. Then the city will take the bags to A 3R Recycling in Sharonville, which stores them until they get enough to ship them with other plastic to their customers. . .. Read more

 

Ramp debate flares at waste district meeting

By Barb Limbacher, T-R Staff Correspondent

BOLIVAR – Controversy about construction of an on-off ramp on I-77 at Gracemont St. ignited again Friday at the nearly four-hour meeting of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District board of directors. . . . Read more

 

Waste district hires consultant

Sat., Jan. 7, 2006
By Robert Wang
Canton Repository Staff Writer

BOLIVAR - In April 2004, the local waste district’s consultants warned that American Landfill’s expansion plan didn’t do enough to assure them that any escape of liquid waste would be detected and the landfill would avoid a collapse.

With the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency granting preliminary approval of that expansion plan last month, a Metcalf & Eddy consultant told county commissioners Friday that it’s unclear if those concerns were ever resolved. Read more