Ohio EPA lays the groundwork for landfill negotiations
BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - State officials held their first meeting Wednesday with people from Countywide landfill's owner to negotiate what the company has to do to keep the government from shutting down the landfill.
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials and representatives of Republic Services, owner of the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility, met for much of the day at the agency's Columbus headquarters, said agency spokesman Mike Settles. He declined to disclose what each side said.
"We had a very good meeting. I think both sides continue to be cooperative. ... I'm sure at the end of the day (the result will) be something that protects the environment," said Republic Services spokesman Will Flower.
The meeting came a week after Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski recommended that the Stark County Board of Health deny the Pike Township landfill a new annual operating license.
Korleski wrote that Countywide was violating environmental regulations by failing to bring its nauseous odors down to acceptable levels and failing to properly address an underground fire. The odors and fires are believed to be a result of aluminum dross waste reacting with liquid waste. The landfill says it's taken care of the odor problem and that it has no fire.
Korleski indicated in his letter that he might take back his recommendation if Countywide takes certain steps, an offer that angers Tuscarawas County commissioners who want the landfill shut down.
On Tuesday, he sent another letter to the landfill's owner, Republic Services, saying he wants to negotiate a plan within 30 days and avoid imposing one that could lead to lawsuits that could delay action.
But Korleski has some leverage. If Republic refuses to do what the agency asks, the Stark County Board of Health is more likely to yank the landfill's license. If that move is backed by the courts, Countywide would have to stop taking in any waste, denying Republic roughly $30 million to $40 million a year in revenue. The board is not expected to hold a hearing on the matter for at least two months, while Stark County Health Commissioner Bill Franks does an investigation.
On Wednesday, the agency released a copy of its proposed findings and orders, a document that says what the EPA has concluded about the situation and what it wants Countywide to do about it. Korleski wrote that if negotiations fail, he would take the proposal off the table.
"This is where our starting point is," Settles said.
Under the proposed orders, Countywide:
• Would stop, at least temporarily, dumping waste near where the aluminum dross waste is believed to be, either on its original 88 acres and its first expansion area cell, a 25-acre area. That would leave 145 acres for waste disposal.
• Submit a study within 45 days that evaluates whether landfill components that prevent environmental contamination have been damaged, submit a plan within 14 days that gives the best options to reduce odors and submit a plan within 30 days that describes how Countywide will deal with the fire. Countywide would look into fighting it with rock salt, magnesium chloride, specialty foams, excavating waste or capping parts of the landfill.
• Conduct regular aerial thermal imaging of the landfill, surveys of the landfill slope to track waste settlement, gas extraction systems for signs of combustion and testing of air, temperature, liquid waste, carbon monoxide, and other gas levels and temperature.
• Pay a fine. The EPA did not propose an amount.
The document also added that:
• From 1993 to last year, Countywide took in about 13 million tons of aluminum waste; the bulk of it, officials say, is aluminum dross waste from a Barmet Aluminum foundry in Uhrichsville.
• In 1998, the EPA approved the landfill's request to recirculate liquid waste throughout the landfill. It's believed this liquid waste, known as leachate, came in contact with the dross, setting off a reaction that caused high temperatures, the underground fire, levels of carbon monoxide eight times greater than the level that indicates a fire, and made more leachate and odors.
• Even after Countywide last year installed a large number of gas wells to divert smelly landfill gases and built a 30-acre plastic cap to contain the odor, the EPA and Canton Health Department got more than 150 odor complaints between Dec. 16 and Feb. 19. But the EPA notes the odor intensity has decreased.
• From 2001 to 2003, Countywide asked the Canton Health Department for permission to allow higher temperatures in its gas well system. The aluminum waste, which was high in ammonia, was causing crystals to form around wellheads, increasing the concentration of oxygen and the risk of a fire. However, closing a gas well valve to control the oxygen led to higher temperatures.
• Landfill gas temperatures have reached more than 240 degrees and the temperatures in several gas wells have been above allowed levels for more than 120 days.
• Aerial thermal imaging around early February revealed "two small anomalous areas" of heat at the northwest corner of the landfill.
• Rapid waste settlement believed to be caused by the reaction continues. Slopes of the landfill have subsided about 40 feet since December 2005.
What is aluminum dross?
A gray, powdery substance that is a byproduct of aluminum recycling. When scrap aluminum and pop cans are melted in a foundry, workers add salt to draw out impurities, such as other metals, out of the aluminum. The result is aluminum dross, also known as salt cake. When this waste mixes with water, it may give off heat, ammonia gas or hydrogen gas. It is not listed as a hazardous waste and can legally be dumped in a solid waste landfill.
Source: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - State officials held their first meeting Wednesday with people from Countywide landfill's owner to negotiate what the company has to do to keep the government from shutting down the landfill.
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials and representatives of Republic Services, owner of the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility, met for much of the day at the agency's Columbus headquarters, said agency spokesman Mike Settles. He declined to disclose what each side said.
"We had a very good meeting. I think both sides continue to be cooperative. ... I'm sure at the end of the day (the result will) be something that protects the environment," said Republic Services spokesman Will Flower.
The meeting came a week after Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski recommended that the Stark County Board of Health deny the Pike Township landfill a new annual operating license.
Korleski wrote that Countywide was violating environmental regulations by failing to bring its nauseous odors down to acceptable levels and failing to properly address an underground fire. The odors and fires are believed to be a result of aluminum dross waste reacting with liquid waste. The landfill says it's taken care of the odor problem and that it has no fire.
Korleski indicated in his letter that he might take back his recommendation if Countywide takes certain steps, an offer that angers Tuscarawas County commissioners who want the landfill shut down.
On Tuesday, he sent another letter to the landfill's owner, Republic Services, saying he wants to negotiate a plan within 30 days and avoid imposing one that could lead to lawsuits that could delay action.
But Korleski has some leverage. If Republic refuses to do what the agency asks, the Stark County Board of Health is more likely to yank the landfill's license. If that move is backed by the courts, Countywide would have to stop taking in any waste, denying Republic roughly $30 million to $40 million a year in revenue. The board is not expected to hold a hearing on the matter for at least two months, while Stark County Health Commissioner Bill Franks does an investigation.
On Wednesday, the agency released a copy of its proposed findings and orders, a document that says what the EPA has concluded about the situation and what it wants Countywide to do about it. Korleski wrote that if negotiations fail, he would take the proposal off the table.
"This is where our starting point is," Settles said.
Under the proposed orders, Countywide:
• Would stop, at least temporarily, dumping waste near where the aluminum dross waste is believed to be, either on its original 88 acres and its first expansion area cell, a 25-acre area. That would leave 145 acres for waste disposal.
• Submit a study within 45 days that evaluates whether landfill components that prevent environmental contamination have been damaged, submit a plan within 14 days that gives the best options to reduce odors and submit a plan within 30 days that describes how Countywide will deal with the fire. Countywide would look into fighting it with rock salt, magnesium chloride, specialty foams, excavating waste or capping parts of the landfill.
• Conduct regular aerial thermal imaging of the landfill, surveys of the landfill slope to track waste settlement, gas extraction systems for signs of combustion and testing of air, temperature, liquid waste, carbon monoxide, and other gas levels and temperature.
• Pay a fine. The EPA did not propose an amount.
The document also added that:
• From 1993 to last year, Countywide took in about 13 million tons of aluminum waste; the bulk of it, officials say, is aluminum dross waste from a Barmet Aluminum foundry in Uhrichsville.
• In 1998, the EPA approved the landfill's request to recirculate liquid waste throughout the landfill. It's believed this liquid waste, known as leachate, came in contact with the dross, setting off a reaction that caused high temperatures, the underground fire, levels of carbon monoxide eight times greater than the level that indicates a fire, and made more leachate and odors.
• Even after Countywide last year installed a large number of gas wells to divert smelly landfill gases and built a 30-acre plastic cap to contain the odor, the EPA and Canton Health Department got more than 150 odor complaints between Dec. 16 and Feb. 19. But the EPA notes the odor intensity has decreased.
• From 2001 to 2003, Countywide asked the Canton Health Department for permission to allow higher temperatures in its gas well system. The aluminum waste, which was high in ammonia, was causing crystals to form around wellheads, increasing the concentration of oxygen and the risk of a fire. However, closing a gas well valve to control the oxygen led to higher temperatures.
• Landfill gas temperatures have reached more than 240 degrees and the temperatures in several gas wells have been above allowed levels for more than 120 days.
• Aerial thermal imaging around early February revealed "two small anomalous areas" of heat at the northwest corner of the landfill.
• Rapid waste settlement believed to be caused by the reaction continues. Slopes of the landfill have subsided about 40 feet since December 2005.
What is aluminum dross?
A gray, powdery substance that is a byproduct of aluminum recycling. When scrap aluminum and pop cans are melted in a foundry, workers add salt to draw out impurities, such as other metals, out of the aluminum. The result is aluminum dross, also known as salt cake. When this waste mixes with water, it may give off heat, ammonia gas or hydrogen gas. It is not listed as a hazardous waste and can legally be dumped in a solid waste landfill.
Source: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
