Proposed landfill relieved of new regs, OEPA rules

GIRARD — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says the company looking to open a landfill off U.S. Route 422 here will not have to meet new state regulations to begin operation.

Local opposition to the landfill, however, will continue.

The Ohio EPA decision was detailed in a letter to a representative of Total Waste Logistics, the company looking to open a site off Route 422 behind the Golf Dome.

According to Joany Snider, Ohio EPA environmental specialist, the state Legislature recently passed more strict regulations on construction- and demolition-debris landfills. The application for the proposed Total Waste Logistics landfill, however, was submitted before passage of the new rules — making that landfill exempt from many of the changes.

Dina Pierce, Ohio EPA media coordinator, said Total Waste Logistics will not be made to meet new requirements detailing where the landfill can be placed; can operate under an operator’s license instead of a license and permit as prescribed under the new regulations; will not need to reveal its past environmental history as prescribed in new regulations; and will be exempt from various new setback requirements.

Pierce said the landfill will not be subjected to many rules in the new state regulations, but local officials still have a hand in the process.

“It is still up to the Girard Health Department to make the decision to grant the license,” she said.