Not to worry

The Akron Beacon Journal

I have read the Beacon Journal's recent news articles suggesting the presence of an underground fire at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in southern Stark County's Pike Township, and I am writing to assure your readers that there is no evidence to support any claim that there is a fire at Countywide.

To report that there is the possibility of a fire, based upon infrared technology, would be negligent, and any additional conjecture as to the impact on the liner system, groundwater supplies and air quality is completely irresponsible....Read more.

EPA responds to memo story about landfill

By ZACH LINT
The Times-Reporter

EAST SPARTA - Mike Settles, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency spokesman, said Tuesday that the EPA wasn’t accurately portrayed in a Sunday Akron Beacon Journal article that detailed an internal agency debate over a possible landfill fire at Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility at East Sparta.

Settles said the story, which cited memos and conversations among officials at the Columbus and Twinsburg EPA offices, made it sound like the EPA was hiding knowledge of a fire from the public.

“That’s just not true,” Settles said. “We’ve been up front about this from the start, and I’m bothered by the tone of the Beacon Journal article that basically said the EPA kept people in the dark.”...Read more.

More to learn?

The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - After the new director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency figures out how to deal with the odor at a Stark County landfill in the short term, he should look into whether his agency is doing all it can do to deal with such problems in the long term.

When EPA Director Chris Korleski toured the Countywide landfill in Pike Township last week, he said that ending the odor that has plagued the area for months is his top priority. Countywide officials have said that the odor stems from a chemical reaction caused by liquid coming into contact with a waste product in the disintegration of aluminum. A pilot who took infrared images of the landfill has told the EPA he believes the problem is an underground fire....Read more.

Waste of time

The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - Chris Korleski said all the right things last week during his visit with the board of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Solid Waste Management District. The new director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency called the deepening troubles at the Countywide landfill in southern Stark County the agency's top priority. He pledged "to get to the bottom of this,'' the odor that has afflicted neighboring communities and the fire or chemical reaction smoldering in a portion of the landfill, described by Korleski as "significantly malfunctioning.''...Read more.

Commissioners say EPA had 'no urgency' - Officials find fault with agency's reaction to landfill fire reports

By ZACH LINT
The Times-Reporter

EAST SPARTA - Tuscarawas County commissioners weren’t surprised Monday after reading an Akron Beacon Journal article detailing internal messages between the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Columbus and Twinsburg offices in regard to happenings at Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility at East Sparta.

According to the article, OEPA officials feared using the word “fire” to describe what was happening beneath Countywide as early as last summer, despite at least one official’s claim that there was a fire....Read more.

Strickland team hits the ground running

The Canton Repository

STARK COUNTY - It’s much too early to fill out a report card for Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration, which is still counting its tenure in weeks. But who would not be pleased with the attention that Stark County has received so far?

The most high-profile notice that Stark has drawn from Columbus was the visit Friday by Chris Korleski, new director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. After only one day on the job, Korleski toured the Countywide landfill in Pike Township and declared that figuring out what is going on underground there will be his top priority....Read more.

EPA split on landfill

By Bob Downing and Dennis Willard
The Akron Beacon Journal

EAST SPARTA - As early as last summer, a sharply divided Ohio Environmental Protection Agency began using a dreaded F-word, sparking "an intense internal debate'' about conditions at a large landfill in southern Stark County.

The F-word -- fire -- was used in writing by an EPA worker reporting to his superiors on Aug. 1, 2006, and again in a Sept. 13 letter by a state EPA worker who asked for help from the federal EPA.

In the meantime, however, the public was kept in the dark about a possible fire....Read more.

Reader’s Viewpoint: Multitude of evidence shows there is no fire within Countywide Landfill

The Times-Reporter

To the Editor:

I am writing to give my thoughts on an article your paper printed last week regarding the Countywide Landfill and the possibility of a fire within the landfill.

As most of your readers know, Countywide identified an odor issue at our facility in late 2005. During 2006, Countywide spent an unprecedented amount of time, energy and expense tackling this issue to ensure odors were minimized as fast as possible. I am happy to report that these efforts, which included the addition of more than 100 gas collectors, seven additional gas flares, 14,000 linear feet of gas collection pipeline and 30 acres of high-density polyethylene cap, have worked to abate the odors....Read more.

Landfill is ‘No. 1 priority’ - New OEPA director pledges to address issues at Countywide

By ZACH LINT and BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Chris Korleski said Friday that addressing the issues surrounding Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility at East Sparta are his and the EPA’s “No. 1 priority.”

Korleski and Todd Thalhamer, the California EPA expert who was called in to determine whether Countywide has an underground fire, met briefly with the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste District Board of Directors at the board’s monthly meeting Friday attended by about 60 people....Read more.

EPA chief inspects 'unique circumstance' at landfill

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - Accompanied to the area by the new director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, a landfill fire expert from California said Friday he's never seen a situation like that of the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility.

"You have a very unique circumstance here," said Todd Thalhamer, a waste management engineer for the California Environmental Protection Agency. If there is a fire burning inside the Pike Township landfill, "this is about as complicated as a landfill fire gets."...Read more.

Expert sees ‘complicated’ Countywide situation

The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - Accompanied to the area by the new director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, a landfill fire expert from California said Friday he’s never seen a situation like that of the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility.

“You have a very unique circumstance here,” said Todd Thalhamer, a waste management engineer for the California Environmental Protection Agency. If there is a fire burning inside the Pike Township landfill, “this is about as complicated as a landfill fire gets.”...Read more.

Ohio EPA is on the dump case

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - Dealing with the problems at Countywide Disposal & Recycling Facility in southern Stark County is the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's No. 1 priority.

That's what Chris Korleski, the EPA's new director, told the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Solid Waste Management District board, describing the landfill as ``significantly malfunctioning.''

The 258-acre site in Pike Township has been producing foul-smelling odors for months and has either a smoldering underground fire or a severe chemical reaction in buried wastes, he said....Read more.