EPA director plans to file lawsuit against landfill

The state wants to pull the landfill’s permit.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Chris Korleski wants A L Salvage to clean up its act.

And he’s planning to go to court to make that happen.

Korleski announced late Thursday that he plans to file a lawsuit against the landfill to stop it from accepting asbestos and to end the company’s permit to operate.

The move comes after a year of talks to resolve problems at the landfill produced no results, he said.

Steven Callahan, director of operations for A L, could not be reached to comment.

The Ohio EPA’s move also comes after nearby residents, as recently as last month, videotaped what appears to be machinery at the landfill running over and popping plastic bags that appear to contain asbestos, which can cause cancer. The tapes were sent to the Ohio EPA.

The landfill has been cited before for improper handling of the material.

The landfill at 11255 state Route 45 has continued to operate while the state decides whether to renew the company’s permit.

The landfill is allowed to take construction debris. It is not allowed to take solid waste.

The state said that pickers at the landfill are supposed to remove solid waste from the trucks entering the landfill.

In the videos, Korleski wrote, “the pickers are huddled off to the side near a loader, not doing anything.”

The landfill also failed to properly compact materials going into the landfill, according to Mike Settles, an Ohio EPA spokesman.

Korleski told the company that such management “is not lawful or acceptable.”

The director added in his letter to the company, “Simply stated, I fail to understand how A L could operate in such a manner notwithstanding the close scrutiny you have been under from us and a number of your neighbors. It is difficult to comprehend how a facility facing enforcement and license revocation proceedings could operate in this way, especially days after senior facility representatives met with me to make the case that the facility was trying to be a good citizen.”

Settles said it may take a month to prepare documents to seek the court order.

The identity of the people who made the videos was not available.

The state and A L have similar numbers when it comes to the size of the landfill and proposals for expansion.

In 2007, the OEPA said the landfill had 43 acres it is using, and it wanted to add an additional 229 acres.

A L has said it had 181 licensed acres, but was using only 42 acres. It wanted to add about 80 more acres, to bring the total to 260.

The landfill is in portions of Center, Elkrun and Madison townships.

wilkinson@vindy.com