WARREN RECYCLING INC. OEPA recommends denial of operating license


By Denise Dick | October 1, 2004 at 12:00a.m.


The city health board must make a decision by Dec. 31.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is again recommending that the city health board issue a proposed denial of Warren Recycling Inc.'s operating license.
Dan Harris, chief of OEPA Division of Solid and Infectious Waste Management, sent a letter to the city health department Thursday with the recommendation.
Harris lists the motion for contempt of court filed earlier this year by the Ohio Attorney General's office as the reason. The AG's office filed the motion, citing the company's failure to comply with provisions of a consent agreement reached in July 2003.
That means that the facility, on Martin Luther King Avenue, isn't in substantial compliance.
"This creates an issue with regard to the renewal of WRI's construction and demolition debris facility license," the letter said.
Company officials couldn't be reached.
The city board should issue a proposed denial of the 2005 license application if WRI hasn't "entered into a satisfactory consent agreement with Ohio EPA before Dec. 31, 2004," Harris' letter says.
The company filed an application for its 2005 operating license with the health department Thursday, said Robert Pinti, deputy health commissioner.
Could request hearing
A proposed denial would allow the company to continue to operate. The company could request a hearing at which health board members could hear evidence.
The OEPA also had recommended a proposed denial of the facility's 2003 permit, but the health board granted the license.
Pinti said that the board must act on the license by Dec. 31.
"I hope that the city of Warren obeys the law and issues a proposed denial of the license because they're not in substantial compliance," said Debbie Roth, leader of Our Lives Count, a citizens group organized because of health concerns surrounding the landfill.
Hearings are set for next week and in November regarding the contempt motion.
denise_dick@vindy.com