Cleanup of landfill near completion

The EPA took over the cleanup when the owner said it didn't have the money.
WARREN -- The $4 million cleanup of the closed Warren Hills landfill will wrap up in June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.
A meeting to update area residents about the project and discuss the government's next steps is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 23 at the Johnson Community Center, 800 Gillmer Road, Leavittsburg.
The yearlong cleanup has addressed a number of environmental concerns associated with the landfill, the EPA said, including the control of hazardous release of foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas.
With this now under control, the federal agency said, the U.S. EPA will turn over the project to the Ohio EPA and Warren Health Department to continue efforts to bring the facility in full regulatory compliance.
Our Lives Count, a local community organization formed in 2002 to raise awareness of issues at the landfill, was instrumental in the cleanup of the site on Martin Luther King Boulevard Southwest.
Order from U.S. EPA
In February 2005, the U.S. EPA ordered the facility to put in place systems to substantially reduce or eliminate the emissions and runoff of leachate into the neighborhood.
The U.S. EPA decided to take over the cleanup because the owner, Warren Recycling Inc., said it didn't have the money.
Debbie Roth of Our Lives Count said Thursday that the odor has been reduced. "I wouldn't say it's gone," she added.
The problems are long-term at the landfill, she explained, because there will always be leachate runoff that needs constant monitoring.