Purchase landfill, Dann says

The state senator says a meeting is set up to discuss the landfill.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A state senator thinks one way to address the problems at a Martin Luther King Avenue landfill is to have the community buy it.
Marc Dann of Liberty, D-32nd, said it's just a proposal for a possible backup plan in case a sale in the works for more than a year falls through.
"I don't know if it will work," he said. "We have a meeting set up to explore it."
Dann acknowledged it would probably require the city to borrow money.
Kay Anderson, a Warren Township trustee, said it's the first she's heard of the proposal and it would have to be discussed with the township's legal counsel. Anderson has the meeting on her calendar for next month.
"I'm really taken aback," she added.
Mayor Michael J. O'Brien said Dann approached him about arranging a meeting about the landfill, but O'Brien said the senator didn't provide many details.
Councilman James A. "Doc" Pugh, D-6th, chairman of council's health and welfare committee, also was noncommittal, saying he wants more information. "It's an avenue to discuss," he added.
Landfill operator
Warren Hills LLC operates the landfill which is owned by Warren Recycling Inc., and its parent company has been working on a plan to buy the facility.
But company officials have said their plan to make improvements at the site to make it comply with a consent agreement signed last year with the Ohio Attorney General's office were contingent on them being able to boost revenue. They planned to do that by accepting more waste, but the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency denied an air permit change that would have allowed the facility to accept the additional material.
"They've been threatening to leave because of the problems with the EPA," Dann said. "Where does that leave the community after that?"
The senator said he hopes the sale goes through but thinks a contingency plan should be in place in case it doesn't.
Multiple complaints
The landfill has been a sore spot for many in the city and Warren Township for the last several years. People have complained of a hydrogen sulfide, rotten-egg stench emanating from the facility that they say is making them sick.
Late last year, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry declared the area around the landfill an "urgent public health hazard" because of the odor.
In a consent agreement signed in 2003, the company agreed to several provisions to make the facility compliant including water and gas monitoring and posting a $715,000 post-closure bond. The bond hasn't been posted. The agreement was to settle a 1999 case in which the facility was accused of accepting waste it wasn't licensed to accept and other violations.
"The only people who have the community's interests at heart are the community leaders and the folks who live in the community," Dann said.