Fund set up to help sort out landfill mess
BY Paul Kostyu
The Canton Repository
COLUMBUS - The Ohio EPA has set up a way for people to send comments about and suggest ideas for a $250,000 Community Benefit Project Fund created because of underground fires and odor problems at the Countywide landfill in southern Stark County.
EPA Director Chris Korleski created the fund to help the communities affected by problems at the landfill, which is formally known as the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facilities.
For more than a year, residents of southern Stark and northern Tuscarawas counties have complained about odors at the 250-acre landfill. The EPA finally concluded this year that the stench was caused by two underground fires. Countywide contested the conclusion, but agreed to close off 88 acres of the landfill and to a cleanup and monitoring plan. Part of that plan is the community fund.
The EPA also has created a Web page of documents related to the cleanup.
Local residents will be getting a notice detailing the information from Melissa Fazekas, deputy director of communications for the agency.
The Web site will contain documents that Countywide submits to the EPA, the agency’s responses to those documents and related correspondence.
“While the Web page will give everyone near-immediate access to Countywide’s submittals, Ohio EPA does not plan to publicly comment on information contained in these documents prior to issuing formal, written responses, which will be posted on the Web page,” said Mike Settles, a spokesman for the agency.
In March, Republic Services of Ohio, the owners of Countywide, agreed to the findings and orders by the EPA intended to end the odor nuisance and underground fires.
Republic was ordered to pay a $1 million fine, and has until May 28 to submit a plan to the Ohio EPA on how it will extinguish the fire. The agency believes that once the fire is gone, the odor will dissipate. Last week, the Stark County Board of Health renewed the landfill’s operating permit.
Fazekas said Korleski wants community projects that benefit the largest number of people within the affected area. She said the agency will accept comments for 30 days, after which the criteria for selecting projects will be finalized and posted on the EPA’s Countywide Web page.
The Web site is: www.epa.state.oh.us/pic/countywide.html
The e-mail address is: communityfund@epa.state.oh.us
The Canton Repository
COLUMBUS - The Ohio EPA has set up a way for people to send comments about and suggest ideas for a $250,000 Community Benefit Project Fund created because of underground fires and odor problems at the Countywide landfill in southern Stark County.
EPA Director Chris Korleski created the fund to help the communities affected by problems at the landfill, which is formally known as the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facilities.
For more than a year, residents of southern Stark and northern Tuscarawas counties have complained about odors at the 250-acre landfill. The EPA finally concluded this year that the stench was caused by two underground fires. Countywide contested the conclusion, but agreed to close off 88 acres of the landfill and to a cleanup and monitoring plan. Part of that plan is the community fund.
The EPA also has created a Web page of documents related to the cleanup.
Local residents will be getting a notice detailing the information from Melissa Fazekas, deputy director of communications for the agency.
The Web site will contain documents that Countywide submits to the EPA, the agency’s responses to those documents and related correspondence.
“While the Web page will give everyone near-immediate access to Countywide’s submittals, Ohio EPA does not plan to publicly comment on information contained in these documents prior to issuing formal, written responses, which will be posted on the Web page,” said Mike Settles, a spokesman for the agency.
In March, Republic Services of Ohio, the owners of Countywide, agreed to the findings and orders by the EPA intended to end the odor nuisance and underground fires.
Republic was ordered to pay a $1 million fine, and has until May 28 to submit a plan to the Ohio EPA on how it will extinguish the fire. The agency believes that once the fire is gone, the odor will dissipate. Last week, the Stark County Board of Health renewed the landfill’s operating permit.
Fazekas said Korleski wants community projects that benefit the largest number of people within the affected area. She said the agency will accept comments for 30 days, after which the criteria for selecting projects will be finalized and posted on the EPA’s Countywide Web page.
The Web site is: www.epa.state.oh.us/pic/countywide.html
The e-mail address is: communityfund@epa.state.oh.us
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