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Officials say improvements should make big difference
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Apr 12, 2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered the installation of a clay-and-synthetic cap on a southern Stark County landfill plagued by underground fires and odors.
The agency and Republic Services Inc., the Florida firm that owns the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility, announced a negotiated agreement to install the cap at the 258-acre landfill in Pike Township.
''This is an important milestone on the path to resolving the many community concerns at Countywide,'' said EPA regional administrator Mary A. Gade. ''We expect Republic to move quickly on these necessary steps.''
The cap is expected to keep water and snow from getting into an 88-acre tract where problems have occurred since 2006, said U.S. EPA attorney
Steven Kaiser in Chicago.
It is also expected to improve the operation of the landfill's gas-extraction system and keep odors from escaping, he said.
The EPA feels the agreement negotiated in consultation with the Ohio EPA should be ''a pretty effective approach'' in solving Countywide's problems, he said.
Republic Services must submit a plan for installing the cap within 15 days, and work is expected to get under way this summer.
But the 32-page agreement does not spell out how quickly the work must be done, and Kaiser said he was not sure when the cap might be completed.
Landfill neighbors said they were pleased at the announcement and grateful that the U.S. EPA was involved, but they are concerned about how long it might take to install a cap, said Dick Harvey of Bolivar, head of the Club 3000 group.
''It sounds all positive,'' he said. ''We've waited so long and people are so frustrated. We have to get something done. People are just so tired of it.''
Republic Services had earlier suggested a synthetic cap to extinguish the fires from aluminum wastes buried deep in the landfill, but that plan could take from three to six years to complete.
The EPA said it feels that the clay-and-synthetic cap would be a better remedy and the company could continue to dump waste into newer landfill cells.
Details of plan
Under Ohio rules, the cap must contain 18 to 24 inches of clay and/or a geosynthetic clay layer, a plastic membrane, a drainage layer and 30 inches of soil.
The cap ''will work in tandem'' with the Ohio EPA's orders to remove excess water from the landfill and to capture landfill gases, the U.S. EPA said.
The agreement also calls for:
• Adding gas-extraction wells and installing a landfill temperature-monitoring system.
• Conducting monthly flights to record landfill temperatures with infrared devices in airplanes.
• Developing and executing an expanded air-monitoring system.
• Stabilizing the landfill.
The required work could cost Republic Services up to $5 million, Kaiser said.
Company officials were not available for comment.
The federal EPA will be the lead agency to ensure that Republic Services complies with the agreement, and the company is still under a series of orders from the Ohio EPA that must be followed.
Republic Services will also be required to reimburse the federal agency for its oversight expenses.
Federal action
The U.S. EPA was asked in January to get involved at Countywide by Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski.
Under Superfund laws, the federal agency can handle Countywide problems in ways that the Ohio EPA cannot, Kaiser said. It can take action against Countywide for possible threats to human health and the environment, he said.
The Ohio EPA supported the federal action and is continuing to deal with other Countywide issues, said agency spokesman Mike Settles.
The U.S. EPA was involved because it ''brings additional resources and expertise to a site that continues to challenge regulators at the local, state and federal levels,'' Settles said.
The Ohio EPA feels that the federal action will ''result in real improvements at Countywide and relief to neighbors,'' he said.
Tuscarawas County Commissioners Kerry Metzger and Chris Abbuhl, both Countywide critics, expressed concern that there are still unresolved problems, including a possible breach of the landfill's synthetic liner and groundwater contamination.
''If this is the first of multiple federal orders from Chicago, then it's good news,'' Metzger said. ''If nothing more is coming, then it's disappointing.''
Kaiser said the federal agency could take more action, but it expects that the agreement should resolve the biggest problems at Countywide.
The problems at Countywide have been traced to aluminum waste that reacts with liquids and results in odors, high temperatures and fires.
The landfill is one of the largest in Ohio and handles 6,000 tons a day. Half of Summit County's trash goes into Countywide.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered the installation of a clay-and-synthetic cap on a southern Stark County landfill plagued by underground fires and odors.
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