Appeals Commission OKs landfill expansion; foes not giving up
BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository
BOLIVAR - The fight over the Countywide landfill’s expansion lasted nearly as long as the Iraq war.
For four years, landfill opponents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. They attended weeks of hearings in Columbus. They hired environmental experts. And they filed thousands of pages in legal documents. But in the end, they couldn’t beat the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.
On Friday, board members of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District met in a closed-door session to discuss their legal options.
It follows a decision last week by the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission, which upheld the landfill’s 170-acre expansion approved in 2003 by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. That same year, the waste district, the village of Bolivar and the environmental group Club 3000 appealed the granting of the permit to the review commission.
In a 99-page ruling, replete with technical language, the commission found that the then-EPA director Chris Jones, had a “valid factual foundation” to determine that the Countywide site was appropriate for expansion. All three review commissioners — Melissa Shilling, Toni Mulrane and Sarah Lynn — signed the legal opinion.
“We said all along, the landfill permit was fair and incorporated everything the rules required,” said Countywide’s general manager, Tim Vandersall. “I always felt confident we were going to win and felt it was a waste of money to go through this process.”
Opponents argued that: The EPA had improperly determined the geological situation around the landfill, waste could get into the water supply, the expansion cells were illegally allowed to be built over an aquifer and that the landfill’s slopes could become unstable.
EPA experts didn’t agree, saying waste could not enter the water supply, no aquifer was directly below the landfill and that proper stability studies had been done.
The commission chose to believe the EPA’s experts.
“I’m very disappointed. ... I think the solid waste district had very legitimate concerns,” said Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger.
Earlier this year, the district, Bolivar and Club 3000 also cited the underground fire the EPA believes is burning at Countywide as another reason to halt the expansion. The fire didn’t start until after the commission held hearings in 2004 and 2005. But the commission said the opponents hadn’t shown what the fire in the original landfill had to do with the expansion area.
The losing parties have until around July 27 to appeal to a state appeals court.
Stark County commissioners Jane Vignos and Todd Bosley said they would oppose an appeal by the waste district due to the cost.
“I would say that we’ve invested a lot of money with very little return,” Bosley said. “Continually spending money filing appeal after appeal is useless.”
But Club 3000 board member Richard Harvey said, “I feel this thing’s not over.”
Also Friday, the district’s board, for a second time in about a month, rejected funding road repairs in Stark County. Stark County Engineer Michael Rehfus had asked for more than $147,000, so his office could address damage to pavement caused by garbage trucks bound for Countywide. The measure failed by a 4 to 4 vote, the same result from the first vote held on June 1. Stark County Commissioner Tom Harmon, who took office July 1, supported it.
But Wayne County Commissioner Scott Wiggam, who had backed the funding at the last meeting, changed his vote. He wants a formal road repair policy in place before he approves more funding. All the Tuscarawas County commissioners had opposed the funding, believing that Countywide should pay for the road repairs.
Metzger said he would be open to the district reimbursing Rehfus once a policy is in place, which might not be until September.
Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos, who was angered by Wiggam’s vote, said road-paving season is during this summer and that she didn’t believe Rehfus could front the money.
The Canton Repository
BOLIVAR - The fight over the Countywide landfill’s expansion lasted nearly as long as the Iraq war.
For four years, landfill opponents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. They attended weeks of hearings in Columbus. They hired environmental experts. And they filed thousands of pages in legal documents. But in the end, they couldn’t beat the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.
On Friday, board members of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District met in a closed-door session to discuss their legal options.
It follows a decision last week by the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission, which upheld the landfill’s 170-acre expansion approved in 2003 by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. That same year, the waste district, the village of Bolivar and the environmental group Club 3000 appealed the granting of the permit to the review commission.
In a 99-page ruling, replete with technical language, the commission found that the then-EPA director Chris Jones, had a “valid factual foundation” to determine that the Countywide site was appropriate for expansion. All three review commissioners — Melissa Shilling, Toni Mulrane and Sarah Lynn — signed the legal opinion.
“We said all along, the landfill permit was fair and incorporated everything the rules required,” said Countywide’s general manager, Tim Vandersall. “I always felt confident we were going to win and felt it was a waste of money to go through this process.”
Opponents argued that: The EPA had improperly determined the geological situation around the landfill, waste could get into the water supply, the expansion cells were illegally allowed to be built over an aquifer and that the landfill’s slopes could become unstable.
EPA experts didn’t agree, saying waste could not enter the water supply, no aquifer was directly below the landfill and that proper stability studies had been done.
The commission chose to believe the EPA’s experts.
“I’m very disappointed. ... I think the solid waste district had very legitimate concerns,” said Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger.
Earlier this year, the district, Bolivar and Club 3000 also cited the underground fire the EPA believes is burning at Countywide as another reason to halt the expansion. The fire didn’t start until after the commission held hearings in 2004 and 2005. But the commission said the opponents hadn’t shown what the fire in the original landfill had to do with the expansion area.
The losing parties have until around July 27 to appeal to a state appeals court.
Stark County commissioners Jane Vignos and Todd Bosley said they would oppose an appeal by the waste district due to the cost.
“I would say that we’ve invested a lot of money with very little return,” Bosley said. “Continually spending money filing appeal after appeal is useless.”
But Club 3000 board member Richard Harvey said, “I feel this thing’s not over.”
Also Friday, the district’s board, for a second time in about a month, rejected funding road repairs in Stark County. Stark County Engineer Michael Rehfus had asked for more than $147,000, so his office could address damage to pavement caused by garbage trucks bound for Countywide. The measure failed by a 4 to 4 vote, the same result from the first vote held on June 1. Stark County Commissioner Tom Harmon, who took office July 1, supported it.
But Wayne County Commissioner Scott Wiggam, who had backed the funding at the last meeting, changed his vote. He wants a formal road repair policy in place before he approves more funding. All the Tuscarawas County commissioners had opposed the funding, believing that Countywide should pay for the road repairs.
Metzger said he would be open to the district reimbursing Rehfus once a policy is in place, which might not be until September.
Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos, who was angered by Wiggam’s vote, said road-paving season is during this summer and that she didn’t believe Rehfus could front the money.
