EPA recommends denying permit to Stark landfill
The Akron-Beacon Journal
EAST SPARTA - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is recommending that a southern Stark County landfill where an underground fire is believed to be burning not get a required operating license.
But whether the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility will remain open or be shut down won't be known for months.
In a strongly worded letter, EPA Director Chris Korleski said today his agency has determined that the landfill is not in substantial compliance with Ohio's environmental laws.
Its problems, he said, include nuisance odors that plague neighbors, the failure of owner Republic Waste Services of Ohio to immediately extinguish or control a subsurface fire and landfill temperatures that are too high.
"I do not make this recommendation lightly, because if such a denial were to be finalized following proper due process proceedings, the entire facility, and not just the portion where the fire is occurring and related nuisance odors are being generated, would be shut down,'' his letter said.
Korleski said he intends to prepare findings and orders that would require the Pike Township landfill to take aggressive measures to eliminate the unusual underground conditions and nuisance odors.
If the company agrees to the new orders, the EPA will be satisfied that the company is "on a schedule to achieve compliance,'' he said.
The EPA recommendation goes to the Stark County Health Department and its board won't decide the question for a number of months, Stark health director William Franks said.
The health department must issue a 2007 operating permit to Countywide, one of Ohio's biggest landfills. It handles about half of Summit County's trash.
View related articles:
Ohio EPA recommends Stark County propose to deny
Countywide Landfill's annual operating license
