VALLEY LANDFILLS OEPA awaits local records

The state agency listed in writing what it wants.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency continues to wait for the Columbiana County Health Department to provide landfill records the state is seeking.
It's unclear what action, if any, the OEPA will take if the department fails to hand over the documents, initially requested this spring, agency spokeswoman Linda Fee Oros said Thursday.
County Health Commissioner Robert Morehead did not return a call seeking comment on the matter.
The state informed the health department weeks ago that it wants records the county agency was to keep pertaining to its former oversight of three construction and demolition debris landfills in the county, near Rogers, Lisbon and Negley.
The county health department was responsible for overseeing the facilities until the state stripped it of that duty in April.
State officials accused the health department of failing to administer and enforce state landfill laws.
Contesting action
The health department is contesting the OEPA's action before the state environmental review appeals commission.
Morehead responded April 21 to the OEPA's notification to turn over the landfill documents by asking the agency to state specifically what it wants, in writing.
The agency did so in a May 25 letter to Morehead from Jerry Weber, an environmental specialist with the OEPA's division of solid- and infectious-waste management.
Records being sought by the state include landfill license applications, as well as correspondence, records and board minutes related to the three construction and demolition debris landfills in the county.
Weber's letter instructed the health department to respond in writing with dates when the OEPA could have access to the documents.
Fee Oros said she was uncertain if any dates have been provided by the health department.
Meanwhile, the county agency continues to be the subject of a state audit and criminal probe being undertaken by the county sheriff's office.
Those actions were sparked by a May 2 story in The Vindicator outlining Morehead's use of a county-issued credit card to buy personal items.
Morehead has insisted that he repaid the charges.
leigh@vindy.com