WARREN Landfill gas presents 'urgent health hazard'

The EPA has a list of issues the landfill managers must resolve.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- A state spokesperson says the company managing a Martin Luther King Avenue landfill has until Tuesday to agree to work to comply with state and federal regulations.
If Warren Hills doesn't agree, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will file a lawsuit against the company Tuesday, said Ohio EPA Spokesperson Kara Allison.
"We're very serious about seeing the issues at the facility resolved," she said.
Gas hazard
On Friday, officials from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Register said they had concluded hydrogen sulfide gas found in homes near the Warren Township landfill has created an "urgent public health hazard." The officials held a public meeting Friday night to discuss their conclusions with local residents.
Allison said that to resolve some of the issues, Warren Hills must:
ULimit the area of the landfill that crews work on.
UControl landfill fires.
URefuse to accept nonconstruction waste.
UPrepare for the care of the landfill after it is closed.
UMonitor and control the release of landfill gas.
Hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs, can irritate a person's eyes, nose and throat and can trigger severe symptoms of respiratory illnesses such as asthma.
The Ohio EPA has studied wind and weather patterns in the area and determined that the landfill is the source of the gas. The state said the gas is most likely created by gypsum wallboard decomposing in landfill water.
Threat to community
Federal officials also said the landfill poses a threat to the community because hydrogen sulfide found in landfill vents can catch fire or explode.
Warren resident Lydia Burger, who can see the landfill from her back yard, said she was not surprised by the findings of state and federal officials. Burger said she has had to deal with the smell of rotten eggs around her home for the past three years.
"It's like living by a volcano; we don't know if it's going to explode or not," she said. "If it explodes, what happens to us?"
Burger serves on the board of Our Lives Count, a citizens group formed to address concerns about the gas at the landfill. She added that she is skeptical that Warren Hills will be forced to comply with regulations.
The state EPA has received about 650 complaints from residents living near the landfill this year.
In February, state EPA officials detected a fire in one of the landfill mounds. Allison said Warren Hills crews have been dumping water into the mound to extinguish the fire. Sensors also were inserted into the mound to monitor its temperature.
Allison said those monitors showed that the mound's temperature increased last week. She said the Ohio EPA is working to determine if the fire inside the mound is still burning.
hill@vindy.com