Maintenance money sought via agreement

The money is needed for
a sanitary landfill.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A consent agreement between the Mahoning County Health Board and the owner of the Crory Road Sanitary Landfill will hopefully lead to maintenance money being secured for the facility, a county official said.

Matthew A. Stefanak, county health commissioner, said the agreement essentially indicates that the trust that owns the small landfill, located just north of Baird Brothers Sawmill, has no more money to provide maintenance for the facility.

Stefanak said the purpose of filing the lawsuit Thursday in common pleas court was to show the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that all efforts had been exhausted to get the property owners to maintain it before seeking EPA funding.

Stefanak said money was available in the property owner’s trust fund for several years after the landfill closed in 1988 to provide the maintenance, but the money had run out.

Monitoring of the groundwater at the facility indicates that there is no contamination, but maintenance needs to be done to ensure that no future contamination occurs, the health commissioner said.

Looking for funds

With the consent agreement in hand, the health board will next seek funding from the Ohio EPA’s Solid Waste Remediation Fund. About $20,000 a year would be enough to provide the maintenance, Stefanak said.

The lawsuit said the health board has filed 64 notices of violation since 2001 against the owner, Toth & Co. Inc. and its statutory agent, Judith Toth of Hunter’s Woods in Canfield.

Toth & Co. and Judith Toth have unlisted telephone numbers and could not be reached to comment.

The suit said the landfill operated from 1975 to 1988. The law in 1988 said the landfill owners were responsible for maintaining the facility for three years after it closed.

In 1990, Ohio law changed, however, requiring the owner of such operations to maintain the facility for 30 years.

The lawsuit alleges that the owners failed to follow a variety of legal requirements. It says they stopped maintaining various parts of the facility and stopped fulfilling reporting requirements at various points between 2001 and 2005.

Suit’s allegations

The suit said the facility has failed to:

URepair the erosion of the surface water diversion ditch on the northeast structural berm to prevent additional erosion.

UMaintain the passive gas extraction system by making repairs to a vent pipe that prevents surface water infiltration into the waste.

URevise the explosive gas monitoring plan and implement explosive gas monitoring.

URegrade the landfill and/or additional cover material to restore surface water run-on and runoff where settling and subsidence has occurred and caused ponding of water.

URe-establish growth in areas with dead vegetation.

UProvide quarterly inspection reports.

UProvide annual reports.

UProvide access to required reports and records.

UFile a revised plat map describing the landfill.

runyan@vindy.com