LANDFILL EPA will investigate release of pollution

The area around the facility has been deemed an urgent public health hazard.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans an aggressive time frame to address health concerns coming from a controversial West Side landfill.
The agency's acting chief of the emergency response branch sent a letter Oct. 4 to Warren Recycling Inc., which operates the Martin Luther King Avenue facility, and Warren Hills LLC, a former operator.
The agency has "documented the release or threat of release of hazardous substances, pollutants and contaminants into the environment" from the landfill and "is planning to spend public funds to investigate and control these releases," the letter says.
Where U.S. EPA uses public funds toward such cleanup, "responsible parties are liable for all costs associated with the removal or remedial action and all other necessary costs" incurred including investigation, planning and enforcement costs, it reads.
Reaction
Debbie Roth, president of Our Lives Count, a citizens group formed because of health concerns surrounding the landfill, was pleased.
"This is the best outcome that the community could have asked for," she said.
Atty. Steven D. Bell, who represents Warren Recycling Inc., said his client has agreed to work with the agency.
"We're trying very hard to get a global resolution to everyone's problems with the landfill," Bell said.
That involves the facility being able to accept enough material to provide revenue necessary to close it properly.
Mark Durno, on-scene coordinator for U.S. EPA in Westlake, Ohio, said the agency was notified by the Ohio EPA in August when the companies failed to comply with all of the requirements of a consent agreement reached between the companies and the state in July 2003.
That agreement called for leachate management, hydrogen sulfide containment and gas monitoring.
Getting aggressive
Durno said the federal agency is seeking the same elements but with a more aggressive time line.
Because of the health hazard, the agency considers a solution time critical, he said.
He estimated that residents would realize results in "weeks to months rather than months to years."
The agency plans to develop and implement a site health and safety plan; characterize the location and extent of hydrogen sulfide contamination and gas generation; develop and establish control measures to eliminate leachate collection at or near the surface of the landfill; and design and install a gas extraction system to eliminate hydrogen sulfide emissions into nearby residential and commercial locations.
Complaints
Residents have complained for years of a rotten egg-hydrogen sulfide odor emanating from the landfill which they say makes them sick.
Last year, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry declared the area around the facility an urgent public health hazard.
Responsible parties include the current and former owners and operators of the facility, people who generated the hazardous substances and people who were involved in the transport, treatment or disposal of the hazardous substances at the facility, according to the letter.
"It validates everything that's occurred to this point," Roth said.
Bell said the parties involved in the consent agreement with the state and those who filed a class action lawsuit against the company met in a mediation session last week. He classified that session as productive.
denise_dick@vindy.com