NILES City will help pay bill to clean up waste site

The ordinance also authorized $57,000 to pay the estimated share of cleanup costs.
By AMY HOUSLEY
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- City council passed an emergency ordinance Wednesday that would help pay for an environmental site cleanup out of state.
The Environmental Protection Agency demanded the city contribute a proportional share of the cleanup costs for capacitors from the city's light department, disposed of in Missouri and Kansas during the early 1980s.
The EPA said that the disposal created an environmental hazard. The capacitors were disposed of improperly by a firm that has since gone out of business.
According to the legislation, the EPA declared that the disposal sites were Superfund sites, placing obligations for the site cleanup upon all contributors of hazardous materials to the site.
Steering committee
A group of contributors to the site have formed a steering committee to determine the extent of the cleanup and to control the costs. The ordinance passed by city council authorized the safety-service director, Donald Allen, to join the steering committee to resolve the claim.
The ordinance also authorized the appropriation of $57,000 to pay the allocated share of the steering committee's estimate of the cleanup costs.
If the city were to pay the money directly to the EPA, the cost to the city would be significantly greater, according to Councilman Robert Marino Jr., D-at large.
The measure was passed as proposed and declared to be an emergency measure to avoid litigation by the EPA.
ahousley@vindy.com