Republic Services Inc. and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency have been embroiled in a simmering war of words.

Letters between the heads of Republic and the Ohio EPA recently were posted on the state agency's Web site.

On Feb. 26, Jim O'Connor, chairman and chief executive officer of the Florida-based firm, sent a strongly worded letter to Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski concerning the underground fires and odors at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in southern Stark County.

In that four-page letter, O'Connor took the EPA to task. He expressed unhappiness over a Feb. 21 notice of violation that was filed against the company.

That violation accused Countywide of allowing waste and leachate to escape from the lined cell on the southern slope of the 258-acre landfill in Pike Township. The agency said it appears that the synthetic liner has been ''adversely affected.''

O'Connor said the EPA's
statements on the notice lacked ''technical justification and are extremely damaging to the Countywide.''

He expressed frustration with the EPA's lack of cooperation and said the agency has refused to meet with the company's experts.

He asked why the EPA has not yet responded to the company's proposed fire suppression plan that was submitted last May.

In a Feb. 29 letter, O'Connor suggested that he, Korleski, the U.S. EPA and Stark County Health Commissioner Bill Franks meet to determine the best way to proceed to solve Countywide's problems.

That triggered a five-page letter from Korleski in which he voiced frustration that the Countywide fires and odors have not been eliminated.

The two sides have met but there are big differences between the company and the agency on what's happening within the landfill and what should be done, he said in a March 14 letter.

The EPA has requested additional landfill data from the company and the agency has ordered certain interim steps be taken to begin to solve the problem, he said.

A future meeting might be productive, he said.

EPA spokesman Mike Settles said Tuesday that no meetings have been scheduled.

The exchange of letters has been posted on the EPA's Countywide Web site: http://www.epa.state.oh.us/pic/countywide.html.

In a March 21 posting, Korleski also said he is reluctant to award community grants for projects in southern Stark and northern Tuscarawas counties until the conditions stabilize at the landfill.

In 2007, the company paid a $1 million fine, of which $250,000 went into a special Community Benefit Fund. A total of 36 proposals were submitted by community groups.