EPA chief will tour landfill

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - A day after being sworn in, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Chris Korleski will tour the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility today, the agency said.

"The site is a top priority for him. He recognizes what this community has gone through ... and he wants to work aggressively to see this situation resolved," said EPA spokesman Mike Settles. "That's important for him - to see what's going on, to have a visual image of what's taking place."...Read more.

Stark landfill called Ohio EPA’s top priority

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - Dealing with a landfill in southern Stark County is the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's No. 1 priority, the agency's new director said this morning.

Chris Korleski told the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Solid Waste Management District that the Countywide Disposal and Recycling Facility is "significantly malfunctioning.''...Read more.

Countywide Concerns Trigger New Overflight

By Daniel Hockensmith
WKSU Radio

EAST SPARTA - A specialist in landfill fires hired by the Ohio EPA has flown over the Countywide Landfill in Stark County, which many neighbors suspect is burning. Activists for months have pressured the agency to step up its monitoring efforts at the landfill....Read more.

State EPA takes infrared photos of dump

By ZACH LINT
The Times-Reporter

EAST SPARTA - Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials borrowed a Highway Patrol helicopter Wednesday to photograph the Countywide Recycling & Disposal facility with an infrared camera.

The photographs could provide evidence of intense heat emanating from a problem waste cell.

A week ago, the OEPA worked out a deal with the California EPA to borrow Todd Thalhamer, an underground fire expert, to examine and determine whether the landfill is on fire....Read more.

EPA says landfill no threat to wells

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

EAST SPARTA - Canton's well field is safe from any contamination should runoff leak from Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in southern Stark County.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said the landfill does not pose a threat to Canton's well field, which is near Beach City and not Strasburg, as was reported in a Beacon Journal story Jan. 24....Read more.

Expert to decide if landfill on fire

By Bob Downing and Dennis Williard
The Akron Beacon Journal

EAST SPARTA - A California expert on landfill fires, who in June alerted the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to problems at Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in southern Stark County, is to begin meeting in Columbus today with EPA personnel.

Todd Thalhamer has been hired by the agency to determine whether the landfill is on fire and, if so, how large the fire might be and what can be done about it.

"I'm not riding in on a white horse,'' he said Tuesday. "I'm just trying to help.... The goal is simple: To determine where we are and what we need to do.''...Read more.

Landfill to pay separately for out-of-county waste

By Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE, IN - A contract agreement revision with Sycamore Ridge Landfill Inc. will pay Vigo County a fee for waste generated within 100 miles of the county courthouse and a separate fee for waste outside the radius.

County Commissioner Judith Anderson said the county’s Board of Commissioners last week voted to approve a new contract with the landfill, but had sought some revisions. “We were pleased they came back with this,” Anderson said....Read more.

EPA official: Don't worry about water

By ZACH LINT
The Times-Reporter

EAST SPARTA – Residents concerned about drinking water coming from the underground aquifers surrounding Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility at East Sparta shouldn’t worry, according to Jeff Rizzo, an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency hydrogeologist.

The Akron Beacon Journal published a story last Wednesday accompanied by a photo diagram of a sample landfill cell – not Countywide – provided by the California Integrated Waste Management Board. In it, ground water appeared to run directly beneath the landfill cell....Read more.

Reader's Viewpoint: Potential dangers lurk in Countywide Landfill

The Times-Reporter

To the Editor:

As nauseating and repulsive as the horrible garbage odors are that the good people of northern Tuscarawas and southern Stark County have to endure, a much greater and health threatening problem possibly exists at Countywide Landfill.

Although The Times-Reporter printed some of the report as it appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal, I feel that the full story should be told to your readers so they can decide for themselves the potential dangers that are lurking in that massive mountain of garbage....Read more.

Reader's Viewpoint: Countywide Landfill must be closed, and it must be closed soon

The Times-Reporter

To the Editor:

After reading articles in several newspapers about the Countywide Landfill, I find it all very disturbing to me. I had cancer once, and I do not want to have to go through chemotherapy again because of a landfill that should have been closed.

My property taxes went up about 30 percent this year. If the county would like to buy my house for the market price that the auditor states it is worth, I would start packing....Read more.

Lawrence official relates concern about Countywide

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - Bill Huth, Lawrence Township zoning inspector, reported on a recent meeting held in Columbus with Laura Powell, acting Ohio Environmental Protection Agency director, and several members of her staff.

Huth told township trustees at their meeting Thursday that documents show a possible underground fire problem at Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility in Pike Township, Stark County, just north of Bolivar.

The documents reported the over heating problem was first detected in 2001 and reported to the Canton Air Pollution Authority from 2002 to 2006....Read more.