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By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 06:12 p.m. EDT, Oct 08, 2008
Neighbors of a Stark County landfill plagued by foul odors and underground fires filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court seeking unspecified damages.
In all, 545 individuals and three companies in southern Stark and northern Tuscarawas counties are suing Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.
The suit charges that the problems at Countywide ''have endangered the health, safety and welfare of the plaintiffs, interfered with the use and enjoyment of plaintiffs' property, reduced the value of their property and businesses and have increased the risk of cancer and other health problems.''
The neighbors, the suit said, are seeking damages for the ''unreasonable interference with their use and enjoyment of their property, diminution in the value of their property [and] lost business profits.''
The 71-page complaint, filed by Brecksville attorney Steven D. Bell and New York-based attorney Robin L. Greenwald, also seeks costs for medical screening and monitoring of all the plaintiffs.
The medical request is ''an aggressive action under Ohio law . . . and very appropriate in this case,'' Bell said.
It is not known what kind of medical tests might be provided, who would conduct them or how long such tests might be needed, he said.
The defendants are Florida-based Republic Services Inc. and Republic Services of Ohio II LLC, which own and operate the 258-acre landfill where the problems caused by buried aluminum wastes reacting with liquids began in early 2006.
Also named as defendants are Texas-based Waste Management Inc. and Waste Management of Ohio Inc., the companies that built and formerly operated the landfill. Republic Services acquired the landfill from Waste Management in March 1999.
The suit was assigned to Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Judge Elizabeth Thomakos.
Jeff Kraus, spokesman for Republic Services, issued a statement about the suit:
''Although the company has not yet reviewed the complaint, Republic believes that it has acted pro-actively and cooperatively with the U.S. EPA and the Ohio EPA in addressing the chemical reaction. Accordingly, Republic believes that any allegations of impropriety that may be contained in the complaint are without merit.''
The suit has been in discussion stages for 22 months and a public meeting was held last January to enlist community support.
The companies joining in the suit were the Canal Street Diner in Bolivar, Springwood Lake Camp Club in Bethlehem Township and USA Label Express Inc. in Bolivar.
The suit charges that the landfill's impact on neighbors stemmed from the defendants' negligence and from the landfill being a nuisance.
The defendants' actions in operating the landfill, the suit says, ''evinces a conscious disregard for the rights and safety of other persons that has a great possibility of causing substantial harm and entitles the plaintiffs to recover punitive damages.''
According to the suit, the defendants ''created the conditions at Countywide Landfill that have resulted in the odors, fumes, vapors, gases and emissions which have injured the plaintiffs.''
The companies knew or should have known of the risks created by accepting such aluminum wastes and by recirculating landfill liquids for many years, the suit says.
The complaint alleges that the release of toxic chemicals from the landfill poses a continuing health threat to neighbors.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, however, says that though the landfill emissions have an offensive smell, they are not a health threat.
Countywide has been working with the U.S. and Ohio EPAs to curtail the odors and eliminate the underground fires that have been traced to buried aluminum waste coming into contact with the landfill liquids.
By Dec. 31, the company will have spent $50 million to fix the problems, landfill manager Tim Vandersall said.
The underground fires are in the landfill's original 88 acres. The EPAs have ordered the installation of a synthetic cap over the top of much of the landfill, as well as gas-extraction wells and liquid-removal pumps. The cap is designed to keep moisture out and to keep odors from escaping.
The two agencies are investigating the feasibility of excavating 400,000 cubic yards of buried trash to create a break to prevent the fires from spreading out of the 88 acres.
That project, expected to cost up to $6 million, would likely be done over the winter in order to minimize even-bigger odor problems that would be created by such an excavation.
About half of Summit County's trash goes into Countywide, which is located next to Interstate 77.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Neighbors of a Stark County landfill plagued by foul odors and underground fires filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court seeking unspecified damages.
In all, 545 individuals and three companies in southern Stark and northern Tuscarawas counties are suing Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.
The suit charges that the problems at Countywide ''have endangered the health, safety and welfare of the plaintiffs, interfered with the use and enjoyment of plaintiffs' property, reduced the value of their property and businesses and have increased the risk of cancer and other health problems.''
The neighbors, the suit said, are seeking damages for the ''unreasonable interference with their use and enjoyment of their property, diminution in the value of their property [and] lost business profits.''
The 71-page complaint, filed by Brecksville attorney Steven D. Bell and New York-based attorney Robin L. Greenwald, also seeks costs for medical screening and monitoring of all the plaintiffs.
The medical request is ''an aggressive action under Ohio law . . . and very appropriate in this case,'' Bell said.
It is not known what kind of medical tests might be provided, who would conduct them or how long such tests might be needed, he said.
The defendants are Florida-based Republic Services Inc. and Republic Services of Ohio II LLC, which own and operate the 258-acre landfill where the problems caused by buried aluminum wastes reacting with liquids began in early 2006.
Also named as defendants are Texas-based Waste Management Inc. and Waste Management of Ohio Inc., the companies that built and formerly operated the landfill. Republic Services acquired the landfill from Waste Management in March 1999.
The suit was assigned to Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Judge Elizabeth Thomakos.
Jeff Kraus, spokesman for Republic Services, issued a statement about the suit:
''Although the company has not yet reviewed the complaint, Republic believes that it has acted pro-actively and cooperatively with the U.S. EPA and the Ohio EPA in addressing the chemical reaction. Accordingly, Republic believes that any allegations of impropriety that may be contained in the complaint are without merit.''
The suit has been in discussion stages for 22 months and a public meeting was held last January to enlist community support.
The companies joining in the suit were the Canal Street Diner in Bolivar, Springwood Lake Camp Club in Bethlehem Township and USA Label Express Inc. in Bolivar.
The suit charges that the landfill's impact on neighbors stemmed from the defendants' negligence and from the landfill being a nuisance.
The defendants' actions in operating the landfill, the suit says, ''evinces a conscious disregard for the rights and safety of other persons that has a great possibility of causing substantial harm and entitles the plaintiffs to recover punitive damages.''
According to the suit, the defendants ''created the conditions at Countywide Landfill that have resulted in the odors, fumes, vapors, gases and emissions which have injured the plaintiffs.''
The companies knew or should have known of the risks created by accepting such aluminum wastes and by recirculating landfill liquids for many years, the suit says.
The complaint alleges that the release of toxic chemicals from the landfill poses a continuing health threat to neighbors.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, however, says that though the landfill emissions have an offensive smell, they are not a health threat.
Countywide has been working with the U.S. and Ohio EPAs to curtail the odors and eliminate the underground fires that have been traced to buried aluminum waste coming into contact with the landfill liquids.
By Dec. 31, the company will have spent $50 million to fix the problems, landfill manager Tim Vandersall said.
The underground fires are in the landfill's original 88 acres. The EPAs have ordered the installation of a synthetic cap over the top of much of the landfill, as well as gas-extraction wells and liquid-removal pumps. The cap is designed to keep moisture out and to keep odors from escaping.
The two agencies are investigating the feasibility of excavating 400,000 cubic yards of buried trash to create a break to prevent the fires from spreading out of the 88 acres.
That project, expected to cost up to $6 million, would likely be done over the winter in order to minimize even-bigger odor problems that would be created by such an excavation.
About half of Summit County's trash goes into Countywide, which is located next to Interstate 77.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
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