U.S. EPA nears halfway mark in its cleanup of health hazard

Predictions of heavy rains suspended the cleanup.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is almost halfway through its $2.7 million cleanup of the Warren Hills landfill and expects the job to take at least until the end of this year, the job's on-scene coordinator said.
"We have some design goals for our remediation, for our cleanup effort, and that is to reduce or eliminate off-site emissions of hydrogen sulfide," said Mark A. Durno of the U.S. EPA.
"We can't guarantee that they'll be eliminated, but we can guarantee that they won't cause potential further health risk."
Hydrogen sulfide is a flammable, toxic gas with a rotten-egg-like odor that emanates from putrefying matter.
Last week, a federal agency released results of a study that linked hydrogen sulfide exposures with health symptoms among the landfill's neighbors. Eye irritation and breathing problems increased as people spent more time near the landfill, according to the study performed by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
What happened
In 2002, neighbors of the landfill reported experiencing breathing difficulties, eye irritation, headache and fatigue. The next year, ATSDR declared the landfill "an urgent public health hazard."
Cleanup work was suspended last week, until after Labor Day weekend, because heavy rains from remnants of Hurricane Katrina were expected to make the slopes too slick for heavy equipment to cap the landfill, Durno said. That equipment includes excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks, he said.
"We're progressing, and all hurricanes aside, we're doing all right," he observed.
"We issued orders to Warren Hills back at the beginning of the calendar year [to do the cleanup]. They did not comply with our orders. That's why we moved in" in April, Durno explained. "We expect our costs to be reimbursed" by Warren Hills, he added.
The U.S. EPA cleanup consists of three simultaneous tasks: Application of a compacted clay cap at least a foot thick over the 13-acre portion of the landfill emitting hydrogen sulfide; regrading of the base of the landfill and digging of a ditch to help drain off surface water; and the construction of an on-site treatment system for about 40 million gallons of leachate.
The cap is designed to keep water out of the construction and demolition debris landfill, which closed at the end of last year after about 12 years of operation.
What causes stench
When water comes into contact with gypsum and drywall underground in the absence of oxygen, anaerobic bacteria cause emissions of hydrogen sulfide, Durno explained. "Unfortunately, at the high concentrations that it's generated in this landfill, it's a very threatening byproduct," he said of the hydrogen sulfide.
The ditch is designed to drain surface water to reduce water retention and seepage into the landfill, he said. "The surface water will drain off-site just like any other surface water would," he said.
Leachate is water that has infiltrated the landfill, come in contact with the debris in the landfill and become contaminated with hydrogen sulfide, he said.
"We're developing a system so that we can remove the leachate from the landfill and from the surface water surrounding the landfill and treat it to remove hydrogen sulfide," before discharging it into the sanitary sewer, he said.
"We're not actively treating water. We're only building the system that will eventually treat the water," he explained.
Two prime contractors are working with the U.S. EPA on the cleanup: Environmental Quality Management of Cincinnati, which is doing the heavy equipment work; and Tetra-Tech EM Inc. of Middleburg Heights, which is performing monitoring, sampling and analytical work.
Agreement
In 2004, the landfill had reached an agreement with city and state officials before a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court magistrate, said Steven D. Bell of Cleveland, the landfill owners' lawyer.
"The state of Ohio refused to negotiate in good faith on a consent agreement," he said, explaining why the landfill owners didn't proceed to do the cleanup themselves. "They'd love to be in a position to pay" for the cleanup, Bell said.
Warren Hills has told the EPA that it doesn't have the money to tackle the project. Instead, the landfill operator has pursued talks with the Ohio EPA that would allow continued operations while incorporating the federal EPA's orders.
The landfill operators and the state had been trying to agree on terms and a final closing date of Dec. 31, 2008. In the interim, the landfill would be able to generate enough revenue and enough fill material to close in an orderly manner.
A spokesperson for the Ohio attorney general's office could not be reached to discuss the failure to reach a consent agreement.
milliken@vindy.com