The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency wants to impose new rules on liquids from specialized debris landfills.
Such a rule, if adopted, would be the first in Ohio on leachate, or landfill liquids, from debris landfills.
The rules would affect 55 Ohio landfills that do not accept regular trash but specialize in construction and demolition debris. The list includes three landfills in Summit County and two each in Stark and Wayne counties.
Such landfills previously have been exempt from leachate monitoring requirements, EPA spokeswoman Linda Oros said.
The new rule has been advanced because an EPA study has determined that such leachate can be contaminated and poses a threat to nearby groundwater, she said.
The EPA will hold a public hearing on its proposed rules at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 3. It will be held in the sixth-floor Conference Center, Room B, Ohio EPA, 50 W. Town St., Suite 700, Columbus.
At that hearing, the agency will accept public comments on the proposed rules. The hearing will last until everyone has had a chance to testify.
Visitors to the building must present photo identification.
Under the EPA plan, operators of the specialized landfills would be required to monitor leachate at the bottom of the landfill for an established list of contaminants.
If contamination exceeded state-set limits, operators then would be required to monitor groundwater for the detected contaminant.
The EPA’s proposed rules also would modify post-closure care and financial assurances. The post-closure care period could be extended if problem were found.
Another proposal would adjust the final post-closure financial assurance with issuance of an annual state license.
In 2005, the General Assembly required he EPA to revise its regulations of such landfills.
In early 2011, the EPA had imposed rules requiring owners of specialized landfills to inspect their sites daily to assure there are no fires and to devise plans to extinguish any fires quickly.
That was triggered by concerns about fires since 2009 at three of the state’s construction-debris landfills, including one at Exit C&D Landfill near East Canton.
Ohio’s construction landfills accept about 7 million tons of debris each year. That’s enough material to fill Akron’s Rubber Bowl more than 70 times.
Forty percent of that debris is shipped into Ohio by truck and rail, primarily from Ontario and East Coast states that do not have such landfills.
The EPA will accept comment on the proposal through Jan. 3. They should be sent to: Michelle Braun, Division of Materials and Waste Management, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, OH 43216 or emailed to michelle.braun@epa.state.oh.us.
Copies of the proposed rules are available at www.epa.ohio.gov/dsiwm.
They also are available at the EPA’s Twinsburg district office or by contacting the EPA at 614-644-2621.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
