EPA split on landfill
The Akron Beacon Journal
EAST SPARTA - As early as last summer, a sharply divided Ohio Environmental Protection Agency began using a dreaded F-word, sparking "an intense internal debate'' about conditions at a large landfill in southern Stark County.
The F-word -- fire -- was used in writing by an EPA worker reporting to his superiors on Aug. 1, 2006, and again in a Sept. 13 letter by a state EPA worker who asked for help from the federal EPA.
In the meantime, however, the public was kept in the dark about a possible fire.
For months, a dispute raged within the state agency over evidence of an underground fire at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township -- and whether it posed a significant health or safety risk.
Landfill fires can release cancer-causing chemicals into the air, can create a danger of explosions, and can destroy the synthetic liner that helps keep contaminated runoff from getting into the aquifer, or groundwater supply.
A review of state EPA records in Twinsburg and Columbus by the Beacon Journal indicates that the Columbus office believed the facility was on fire. The Twinsburg district office sided with Republic Waste Services of Ohio, which owns the 258-acre landfill, saying that unusual heat detected there was caused by a chemical reaction involving aluminum waste and liquids.
Agency records show that the EPA's Twinsburg office was worried that acknowledging a landfill fire would trigger widespread public fears and intense media scrutiny.
As far back as Aug. 30, however, Gina Gerbasi, an EPA staffer in the Columbus office, expressed in writing "serious concerns regarding the threat to human health and safety of the landfill and the interests of OEPA employees handling the situation.''
Her memo notes that all the data about the landfill's problems were provided by the owners of the landfill, that nobody with experience with landfill fires had evaluated the situation, and that "the prime concern of the (Twinsburg) district office was public and media opinion.''
Another memo notes: "Public and media perception of the landfill were cited as concerns by (the Twinsburg office) in stating the landfill has a fire.''
And according to a handwritten notation by Ed Gortner, another EPA staffer in Columbus, "We have a problem here if all indications say fire, yet district (Twinsburg) doesn't want to acknowledge.''
Columbus now controls
Nonetheless, dealing with Countywide's problem was the responsibility of the Twinsburg office until late last month, when inquiries by the Beacon Journal turned up new evidence of a fire. Control of the matter was then transferred from Twinsburg back to Columbus.
Todd Thalhamer, a California expert on landfill fires, was hired by the Ohio EPA to try to determine if there is a fire or a chemical reaction taking place and to recommend what might be done.
On Friday, the new director of the Ohio EPA, Chris Korleski, said the problems at Countywide are his agency's No. 1 priority.
The landfill began making news last spring because of its foul odors plaguing southern Stark and northern Tuscarawas counties.
According to state records, on Aug. 1, EPA staffer Scott Winkler reported to his superiors at the Twinsburg office that an underground fire was burning on 3 acres of Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility.
Six weeks later, Ohio EPA staffer Kevin Clouse of the Columbus office informed the U.S. EPA that the facility "exhibits several signs indicating the possibility of an underground fire.''
Despite those communications, the Ohio EPA publicly maintained for months that the problem was not a fire but a chemical reaction.
The landfill is one of the largest in Ohio. It accepts about 6,000 tons -- 300 truckloads -- of trash a day and handles half of Summit County's garbage.
Twinsburg trusts owner
The Twinsburg office's belief that Countywide was not on fire appears to go back to an Aug. 24 meeting with the company, EPA records show.
Twinsburg EPA staffers met with company engineer Todd Hamilton, who provided information on the aluminum waste and convinced the EPA that there was no fire, agency memos show.
EPA staffer Kurt Princic told superiors that the situation was "something not too many people are familiar with,'' and he indicated the Twinsburg office trusted Hamilton and his conclusions about the chemical reaction.
Winkler told the Columbus office that "we can handle'' the problem, citing how cooperative the company was being, that memo said.
As far as the Twinsburg office was concerned, determining whether there was a fire was unimportant, the records say.
That's because the remedy was the same: to keep liquids and oxygen out of the 88-acre section of the landfill where the problems were.
And so, in late August, control of Countywide was finally given to the Twinsburg office -- and Columbus was excluded -- by Dan Harris, head of the state EPA's Division of Solid and Infectious Wastes.
Ohio EPA spokesman Mike Settles noted that the Twinsburg office is closer to Countywide and its inspectors were frequently at the landfill.
Pilot can't get attention
But Larry Davis -- a Kent pilot who documented an underground fire in 2001 at the Pine Hollow Landfill in Jefferson County for the Ohio EPA -- was troubled by the lack of attention he got from the agency, the records show.
Davis told the EPA he had contacted the Twinsburg office in September, saying he had infrared pictures of a landfill fire at Countywide, but "no one was interested.''
Columbus staffers, meanwhile, remained troubled that the EPA was relying almost entirely on data collected by Republic Waste Services, the memos show.
In fact, the records raise questions as to whether the agency itself had the expertise to deal with the Countywide problem.
There were also references in the EPA files that data on air samples of benzene, a cancer-causing substance, were provided to the Twinsburg office but not shared with the Columbus office.
The memos show that the Ohio EPA was searching for answers to the landfill's odor problem. There was a theory that the foul-smelling gases created at the landfill might be ozone, a notion accompanied by a memo calling for additional tests to prove or disprove the theory.
Push to cite owner
Memos from Columbus staffers also appeared to push Twinsburg staffers to cite Countywide for violations.
On Oct. 6, Carl Mussenden of the Columbus office sent a strongly worded e-mail to Winkler, urging him to refer Countywide to the Ohio Attorney General's office for violating state rules. State law requires that landfill operators "prevent fires within the limits of solid waste placement,'' Mussenden said.
And in a second e-mail the same day, he suggested to Winkler that the company should be cited for allowing a fire that threatened the integrity of landfill gas-extraction wells and liquid-collection systems.
But the EPA has taken no legal action against Countywide for the problems. The landfill was declared a public nuisance in September because of the odors. The EPA has said the odors are not a health threat.
In a Jan. 11 memo, Gortner of the EPA's Columbus office noted that California expert Thalhamer, who was consulted on the landfill in September at the behest of the U.S. EPA, "does not agree with Countywide and Ohio EPA's (Twinsburg office) when they conclude that the limited data shows the landfill is not experiencing subsurface combustion.''
No aerial photos
Gortner also pointed out that more than six months after the fire issue arose, neither the Ohio EPA nor Countywide had taken infrared aerial photos, even though both had concluded there was no fire.
"In fact, Mr. Thalhamer recommended many investigative techniques beyond those employed by Countywide to date, one such technique includes aerial infrared imaging,'' Gortner wrote.
On Jan. 23, control of Countywide was switched back to the Columbus office when the EPA decided, based on new evidence, to look into the question of a landfill fire.
One day later, the Beacon Journal reported -- after several days of inquiry into the EPA's handling of the matter -- that two experts on landfill fires and the pilot with infrared photographs of Countywide said they were convinced the landfill was on fire and the fire was spreading.
Manager denies fire
Tim Vandersall, general manager of the landfill -- who says problems at the landfill have been blown out of proportion and unfairly portrayed -- insists the landfill has no fire, just a chemical reaction. The problems can be solved, he said.
By Feb. 21, the EPA is expected to make a recommendation to the Stark County Health Department on a 2007 operating permit for the landfill.
The EPA acknowledges there has been major debate over Countywide. "There's no question and it's no secret that there has been intense internal debate about this issue,'' EPA spokesman Settles said Wednesday. "It's been an unusual and trying situation.''
The debate came from professionals looking at limited evidence and making different conclusions, he said.
Which office is in charge of Countywide is insignificant, Settles said. What is important is that the Ohio EPA is working intensely to solve the problem.
As for Davis -- the Kent pilot who could generate no interest in his photos at the Twinsburg office last year -- he said he was contacted about his images by the Columbus office on Jan. 10.
"No offense,'' he told Columbus, "but all these fires I report to the Ohio EPA and the U.S. EPA tend to fall into a black hole.''
