43
State sues closed landfill
YOUNGSTOWN
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has sued a closed Mahoning County landfill, seeking a court order compelling it to pay past-due waste-disposal fees to the state, properly monitor underground-water quality and reduce the wastewater accumulation on the landfill’s protective liner to 1 foot or less.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against Central Waste Landfill Inc., 12003 Oyster Road, Smith Township, which DeWine said “has endangered the environment.”
The landfill, located near Alliance, ceased operation and stopped accepting waste June 12, 2012, and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy the next day.
However, DeWine said in the lawsuit that the landfill’s assets haven’t yet been liquidated and the bankruptcy trustee has applied for its operating licenses.
“Defendant has failed to implement a groundwater-quality assessment plan capable of determining the concentration, rate and extent of migration of waste-derived constituents in the groundwater” since November 2008, DeWine’s lawsuit says.
The landfill lacks enough monitoring wells at proper locations and depths to monitor groundwater quality downstream from the waste, the lawsuit says.
The wastewater accumulation on the landfill’s liner exceeds the legal limit of 1 foot, the suit says.
Central Waste has failed to submit the legally required reports and fees to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for waste it accepted in May and June 2012, and the Ohio EPA has determined the landfill to be underfunded by nearly $2.5 million for its closure and post-closure environmental care, according to DeWine’s complaint.
The landfill is subject to civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each day of violation of state law, the complaint said.
Central Waste management could not be reached to comment. A telephone number listed for the landfill’s office has been disconnected.
The lawsuit is assigned to Judge Lou A. D’Apolito.