WARREN OEPA to city: Revoke license for landfill

The leader of a citizens group is taking a wait-and-see approach.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is recommending that the city revoke Warren Recycling's landfill license and deny its 2003 license application unless violations are corrected.
Dan Harris, chief of OEPA Division of Solid and Infectious Waste Management, sent a letter Thursday to Dr. James A. Lazor, city health commissioner.
Neither company nor city health department officials could be reached.
Debbie Roth, who leads Our Lives Count, a citizens group, is reserving opinion.
"I think that it's good that OEPA says their permit should be revoked," she said. "Now we'll have to sit and wait to see where it goes from here."
Time frame
In June, OEPA referred Warren Recycling Inc. to the Ohio Attorney General's Office as a result of violations occurring at the company's construction and demolition debris landfill.
"Warren Recycling Inc. has not corrected the violations," the letter says. "Consequently, Warren Recycling is not in substantial compliance with Ohio law."
Escalation of enforcement action by OEPA against a facility, such as referral to the AG's office, "is a significant factor in determining whether a facility is in substantial compliance with the state's laws and regulations."
If OEPA administered the licensing program in Trumbull County, it would propose denial of WRI's 2003 license application, the letter states.
The city health board is an approved health department and therefore carries out the delegated powers of the director of Ohio EPA in Trumbull County, it says.
"Accordingly, the board of health should revoke Warren Recycling's current C & amp;DD [construction and demolition debris] license and propose denial of Warren Recycling's 2003 license application if Warren Recycling Inc. has not entered into a satisfactory consent agreement with Ohio EPA before Dec. 31," Harris wrote.
The company's permit expires at the end of this year.
What OEPA says
Kara Allison, an OEPA spokeswoman, said the agency's recommendation is for immediate revocation. If the license is revoked and denied for next year, the company may appeal the order to the health board or a court.
The violations stem in part from a case that resulted in criminal charges against the company last year.
The company was fined $99,000 last year after being convicted of dumping wooden products without the proper license. The company was convicted of a misdemeanor count of criminal damaging.
County prosecutors said the company dumped wood that came from a cabinet manufacturer, not from a construction or demolition site. Prosecutors said if the wood is coming from an industrial process, it is solid waste.
Warren Recycling has a landfill permit for construction and demolition debris, but it does not have a solid waste permit to dump manufacturers' waste, AG's office officials have said.
Allison said there are additional compliance issues, but she wouldn't elaborate.
Chris Slagle, a spokesman for the AG's office, said the office is working with OEPA and the company to reach a resolution.