Burning about the landfill
PIKE TWP - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency should delay renewing the operating permit for the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility until the agency determines exactly what is happening underneath the landfill in Stark County. On Wednesday, state Sen. Kirk Schuring proposed such a stand, even the agency denying the renewal, in view of questions raised about conditions at the Pike Township facility. It is the responsible course while the state EPA investigates the problems.
The 258-acre landfill has been a source of continuing complaints. Residential neighbors have expressed deep concerns about the health effects of foul odors wafting from the landfill. The state EPA, denying the odors are a health hazard, still declared Countywide a public nuisance.
More unsettling yet are indications of serious problems underground. The explanations offered by independent observers are at odds with those of the EPA and Countywide officials. The differences are justification enough to hold off on a new permit.
A pilot using thermal imaging equipment recorded infrared images of heat rising from an 88-acre section of the landfill no longer in use. He is convinced Countywide is burning, the glowing area having expanded 12-fold between August and December. An expert on landfill fires, whom the EPA intends to consult as it assesses the radiating heat, is equally persuaded Countywide is showing the key symptoms of a fire: higher levels of carbon monoxide, very high temperatures, smoke and unusually deep settling of the landfill. In parts of the landfill, the surface has sunk far lower than the typical 10 feet to 15 feet.
Landfill officials, and the EPA so far, insist the heat is not from a fire but an intense chemical reaction from landfill liquids mixing with aluminum waste. That said, Stark County residents deserve a definitive answer quickly to protect against the potential hazards from a landfill fire.
Theirs isn't an unreasonable fear that, unattended, a fire could cause an explosion and release toxic gases into the air or damage the landfill's protective liner, making it possible for escaping chemical liquids to threaten an aquifer that supplies drinking water to 600,000 in the area. State law does not allow the Ohio EPA to impose fines on landfill operations. A permit delay should serve as leverage enough to prod a swift resolution of Countywide's problems.
