WARREN OEPA won't pursue license revocation

The state says the city should focus on the landfill's 2003 license.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has backed off urging the city health board to revoke Warren Recycling Inc.'s 2002 landfill license, but others haven't.
OEPA sent a letter to the health department last week saying it should revoke the company's license to operate its construction and demolition debris landfill and deny its 2003 license application if the company hasn't entered a consent agreement with Ohio EPA by Dec. 31.
Robert Pinti, deputy health commissioner, sent a letter back requesting clarification. Pinti said he didn't want to put the health board in a position to get sued and wanted OEPA to make it clear whether it was ordering the health district to revoke the company's license.
Kurt M. Princic, environmental manager of the agency's division of solid and infectious waste management, responded Tuesday by writing that it does not make sense for the health department to pursue revocation of the 2002 license and the agency has no objection if the board decides to forgo that action.
OEPA's position is that the health board should propose denial of the company's 2003 license application if the company hasn't entered a satisfactory agreement with the state by year's end.
The company was convicted last year of a misdemeanor count of criminal damaging, accused of accepting wood in 1998 that came from a cabinet manufacturer, not from a construction or demolition site.
If wood is coming from an industrial process, it is considered solid waste.
The company's landfill permit is for construction and demolition debris, but it doesn't have a solid-waste permit to dump manufacturer's waste.
The conviction resulted in a $99,000 fine. OEPA officials have said there are additional compliance issues, but decline to elaborate.
Group members speak out
Members of Our Lives Count, a citizens group formed to address concerns about the company, urged health board members at a meeting Wednesday to revoke the company's license.
Debbie Roth, group president, doesn't think the city is fulfilling its responsibility in policing the landfill.
"When is somebody in the city of Warren going to stand up and do the right thing and put the lives of our children ahead of profit?" she said.
Kay Anderson, a Warren Township trustee, offered a similar view.
"The trustees are asking you to please not renew the license," she said. "We're concerned for the health of our children."
Pinti said a meeting has been set for Nov. 7 with the OEPA, the attorney general's office and the company.
The wood that was dumped in the landfill in 1998 was never taken out.
"We've never been informed by the EPA to take the wood out," Pinti said.
After this time, it's likely decayed and Pinti said it's up to the company and the state agencies to determine an acceptable remedy. He has recommended, and the OEPA has agreed, the company should install ground water monitoring systems and a perimeter air monitoring system.
The ground-water monitoring system would enable officials to determine if items in the landfill are negatively affecting the water. The air monitoring system would determine if the company is the chief source of the hydrogen sulfide stench citizens have complained about for months.
Pinti also said that if the company closes down, problems will remain.
"If they stay open, we can make them come into compliance," he said.
dick@vindy.com