White House ‘of two minds’ in enforcing Clean Air Act

By Juliet Eilperin
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON, DC - Although the Environmental Protection Agency joined in a legal settlement last week to force the largest power-plant pollution cleanup in U.S. history, the Bush administration signaled in the agreement that it has no intention of taking enforcement actions against the utility for the same kind of Clean Air Act violations in the future.

The language of the settlement indicates that the administration has not wavered in its distaste for a Clinton-era policy of using the law to force power plants to upgrade their pollution controls whenever they significantly update or expand a plant.

That marks a significant victory for the power industry, which has strenuously opposed the “New Source Review,” saying that it penalizes them for efficiency improvements that ultimately benefit consumers and the environment....Read more.

Ohio among nation’s top water polluters

The Canton Repository

COLUMBUS (AP) - Ohio ranked first in the nation in the number of times its major factories and cities released an unauthorized amount of harmful chemicals and untreated sewage into waterways, according to a report released by an environmental group Thursday.

Cities and industrial facilities across the 50 states frequently deposited more pollution into the nation’s waterways than the 1972 federal Clean Water Act allows, said the report from the nonprofit group Environment Ohio.

The group looked at 2005 water pollution data from cities and industries that were deemed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to release a significant amount of toxins into major waterways....Read more.

Dover firm in top water polluters

By Paul Kostyu
The Canton Repository

COLUMBUS - A Tuscarawas County company is one of the worst water polluters in the state and contributes to Ohio's rank as the worst state for water pollution violations, according to a report released on the 35th anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act.

Dover Chemical exceeded its water permit limits 10 times in 2005, the latest data available, according to Environment Ohio, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Forty-six of the 270 companies and city governments studied exceeded permit limits multiple times for what can be dumped in waterways.

The report details the reason Ohio ranks high on the national list of poor water quality, said Amy Gomberg, a spokesman for Environment Ohio....Read more.

Waste Management works on ‘green’ strategy

By John Porretto
The Associated Press

HOUSTON, TX - Waste Management, the nation’s largest garbage hauler and landfill operator, plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next dozen years to make its operations more environmentally friendly.

The company plans to increase its energy production from waste, buy more fuel-efficient vehicles and more than double the amount of recyclable material it processes, among other initiatives.

Waste Management chief executive David Steiner is scheduled to announce the plan today at the World Business Forum in New York.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Steiner said the “green” strategy also will boost Waste Management’s bottom line. The company reported $13.4 billion in revenue in 2006....Read more.

Ring of fire

The Akron Beacon Journal

PIKE TWP - Devising a solution to the problem of smoldering, smelly underground garbage at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in southern Stark County just got more difficult. In a letter last week to Republic Services about its Pike Township landfill, Chris Korleski, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, warned of new evidence that underground fires are spreading.

Korleski, whose agency is studying a long-term solution, wisely is calling for a greater degree of caution in landfill operations. He has ordered the company to shift the area where garbage is received farther north, away from older, covered sections where fires have broken out and appear to be spreading. In addition, a fire break, most likely a berm constructed with clay soils, would separate a new active area of the landfill from closed areas....Read more.

Escaped gas sickens workers

BY Malcolm Hall
The Canton Repository

ALLIANCE - Regional health and safety officials are awaiting lab test results to determine what was in the gas that escaped from the Central Waste landfill earlier this week that made workers sick.

A construction crew from Beaver Excavating of Perry Township was excavating buried sludge and waste at the site and preparing to dispose of it in new burial cells when they became ill.

"There were some odors from the waste that made them feel dizzy," said Steve Roberts, project manager for the company. "As a precaution, we had them go to the hospital. We stopped work to do some investigation to determine the cause. We need to be certain we can proceed safely."...Read more.

Excavation done at old dump

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

AKRON - A major milestone has been reached in the $60 million cleanup of a toxic-waste dump in northern Summit County.

The contractor, EQ Industrial Services Inc. of Wayne, Mich., has hauled away in excess of 225,000 tons of contaminated soil and debris from two parcels off Hines Hill Road in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The work to stabilize the dump that was owned and operated by the Krejci family took two years to complete.

The two tracts, together covering 47 acres, are on opposite sites off Hines Hill Road in Boston and Northfield Center townships. The sites are separated by Interstate 271....Read more.

Commissioners: Is EPA moving too slowly on Countywide fire?

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - Tuscarawas County commissioners expressed their disappointment with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency regarding an ongoing underground landfill fire.

The comments came Friday during and after the board of directors meeting of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District. The issue arose regarding the Oct. 1 letter to officials of Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility near Bolivar about installing a firebreak as an interim fire suppression measure. OEPA Director Chris Korleski wrote to Countywide officials that the fire is migrating throughout the original 88 acres and possibly into Cell 7, which was the first cell of expansion....Read more.

Landfill fire may spread to new area, EPA warns

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

PIKE TWP - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is convinced that underground fires in a 258-acre Stark County landfill are spreading throughout the landfill's original 88 acres.

EPA Director Chris Korleski, in a letter to Republic Services, said his agency is worried that the problems at Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township could spread into trash dumped in new areas of the landfill.

The dump runs along the east side of Interstate 77 south of Canton....Read more.