Neighbors of closed landfill complain of odors

By D.A. WILKINSON

wilkinson@vindy.com

LISBON

Columbiana County Commissioner Dan Bing is pleased that the state is cracking down on the A&L Landfill.

“I wanted to get them into compliance or give up, and they gave up,” Bing said Thursday.

He was active in helping residents fight the landfill at 11225 state Route 45, Lisbon. He added that the landfill closed in February 2009 after nearby residents complained about skin rashes and contaminated drinking water.

Recently, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, people who live near the landfill have been complaining that hydrogen-sulfide odors have intensified and caused short-term health effects including headaches and nausea.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and a 20-count complaint in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court against the landfill at the request of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Chris Korleski.

Steven Callahan, director of operations for A&L, did not respond to a call seeking comment.

Dr. Jack Amato, a longtime member of the county health board, also was named in the lawsuit as the owner or co-owner of the site.

Cordray said, “We have given A&L Salvage’s owners every opportunity to comply with Ohio law and properly close that landfill. Instead, they have allowed conditions to deteriorate to a point where we now need the court’s help to make things right.”

The case was assigned to county Common Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike. He did not grant the state’s request for a preliminary injunction against the company but set a hearing at 1 p.m. April 1.

The OEPA wants to stop hydrogen-sulfide odors from reaching nearby homes by covering the entire 42-acre landfill with a 12-inch layer of dirt. The dirt also would prevent any underground fires in the landfill from spreading.

Mike Settles, a spokesman for the OEPA, said that many of the problems could bring high fines, but the goal is to resolve the problems.

The landfill is supposed to take only construction debris. The lawsuit said at different times from 2005 to 2009, the landfill took unidentified material and solid waste and didn’t spread evenly and compact waste at the working face, allowed surface water to go into a creek, and didn’t handle asbestos properly.

OPEA inspector Jerry Weber said in an affidavit filed in the case that since 2003, he had at least 350 odor complaints about the landfill.

Lisbon residents experiencing nuisance odors can call the Ohio EPA at (800) 686-6330, ext. 1212. Information on potential health effects from hydrogen-sulfide exposure is available at the Ohio Department of Health at (614) 995-7017.