Tuesday, January 09, 2007

 

Raising a stink: Officials still fighting odor despite OEPA talk

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR – Area officials are not giving up their fight against the stench from Countywide landfill despite an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency representative’s comment that the odor has decreased.

Executive Director David Held will present a letter from the board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District at a hearing Monday at 2 of the OEPA’s Division of Air Pollution Control at Columbus.

The proposed changes clarify OEPA regulations governing air pollution odor nuisances and reporting of malfunction equipment. Public nuisance conditions from odor would no longer be regulated by the OEPA, unless the emission associated with the odor causes adverse health effects or property damage.

Kurt Princic, environmental manager of OEPA’s Division of Hazardous Waste and Solid and Infectious Waste Management, said at Friday’s meeting that odor is still coming from Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility. The landfill is located north of Bolivar in Pike Township of Stark County.

He said the deadline to get rid of the odor was Dec. 15 and on Dec. 16, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, OEPA officials were at the site.

“The intensity of the odor has decreased and the complaints are becoming less,” he said.

He said outgoing OEPA Director Joseph Koncelik requested that the Canton City Health Department not take any action on the 2007 operating license for Countywide.

“If the measures are still not working by Jan. 31, then a recommendation will be made to the Canton City Health Department Air Pollution Control Division about the matter,” Princic said.

At Monday’s hearing, OEPA will discuss clarifying rules that require reporting of releases of air contaminates due to equipment malfunctions at facilities. OEPA has proposed more specific requirements for reporting releases based on the length of the malfunction and release, and the quantity of material released.

In the letter from the board of directors, limiting the definition of odor nuisance that endangers health or damages property is contrary to long-standing principles of nuisance law and make regulations ineffective.

Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger said the proposed rule changes would eliminate the OEPA’s authority to address public odor nuisances and deal with such nuisances.

“I can’t believe OEPA is going to digress themselves from this issue. I find it appalling,” Wayne County Commissioner Ann Obrecht said.

“OEPA is proposing a rule to back-off from this issue, and they need to do the right thing,” Metzger said.

In another matter, after a 45-minute executive session to discuss pending litigation, board members authorized new board Chairman Metzger to sign a letter authorizing legal representation in response to a lawsuit by the National Solid Waste Management Assn.

Kristin Zemis of Black, McCuskey of Dover, attorneys for the district, said the lawsuit was filed Dec. 13 in Stark County Common Pleas Court against the district. Judge Richard Reinbold has been assigned to the case.

“The district has 28 days to file an answer and then the attorneys for Republic Services of Ohio (owner of the landfill) and the district will speak via telephone on Jan. 16 to set a pre-trial date,” Zemis said after Friday’s meeting.

The National Solid Waste Management Assn. has objected to landfill rules approved by the board in November. Among the objections is to language that states local landfills can’t accept trash from waste districts in Ohio that don’t recycle as much as the regional district currently recycles.

The rule does not affect accepting out-of-state waste because the United States Supreme Court has ruled that local governments are not permitted to regulate interstate commerce, including trash. Countywide said it does not accept out-of-state waste.

In other business, board members:

  • APPROVED Metzger as board chairman and Obrecht as vice chairwoman. Christi Allen will serve as executive secretary. The chairmanship is rotated among the three commissioners of each of the three counties that forms the board.
  • SET board meetings for the first Friday of each month at 9:30 a.m. in the district office at 9918 Wilkshire Hills Blvd., Bolivar (Wilkshire Hills).
  • HEARD Stephen Tope, district treasurer, is resigning. He will stay until a new treasurer is in place. Tope was hired part-time in April 2005.
  • INTRODUCED Todd Bosley, a new Stark County commissioner.
  • APPOINTED the following committees with chairmen listed first, budget – Tuscarawas County Commissioner Jim Seldenright, Wayne County Commissioner Scott Wiggam, and Bosley; personnel – Tuscarawas County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl, Obrecht, Stark County Commissioner Gayle Jackson; landfill/rules, Metzger, Wayne County Commissioner Cheryl Noah and Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos.