Officials contest fines related to plants

The county would rather invest in its treatment plants than pay fines to the EPA.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County commissioners and the county sanitary engineer are challenging fines that Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says are owed for exceeding limits on substances found in discharge from two treatment plants.
Commissioners Anthony Traficanti and John McNally voted Thursday to ask the common pleas court to appoint Frost Brown Todd, a Cincinnati law firm, to represent the county in the matter. Commissioner David Ludt was absent.
The county needed to hire a law firm with expertise in environmental matters, said William Coleman, office manager of the sanitary engineering department.
Common pleas court judges must give approval whenever outside counsel is hired to represent county officials, Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said.
The county previously hired Frost Brown Todd to terminate a 1994 consent order that the state EPA and Attorney General sought to bring two of the county's seven treatment plants into compliance with the sanitary engineer's operating permit. That court order was terminated in July 2005.
The EPA says the county owes more than $520,000 in fines for violations that occurred while the order was in effect.
Limits
Effluent from the Meander and Boardman plants goes into creeks and eventually reaches the Mahoning River. The EPA conducts sampling and places limits on amounts of cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, nitrogen and more. The county is contesting those limits. "We're not talking about great variations," Coleman said.
The EPA wants 100 percent compliance. The county believes its plants are performing at levels that are not harmful or detrimental to the environment, Coleman said. Rather than pay the fines, the county wants to put that money into its treatment facilities, he added. The county hopes to negotiate a settlement with the EPA, Coleman said.
In other business, commissioners approved a resolution in support of a grant application by Cardinal Tire to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for scrap tire recycling. The $350,000 grant would enable the company to increase its annual processing of used tires from 1 million to 3 million, Cardinal Tire CEO Carl Avers said.
Cardinal Tire is in Performance Industrial Park on Poland Avenue. Its primary product is crumb rubber, which helps plastics to absorb shocks and resist breaking, Avers said.
Grants will be awarded in June.
shaulis@vindy.com