Input is sought on plan for landfills in Oregon
By Tom Henry
The Toledo Blade
OREGON, OHIO - Built long before the modern era of solid waste laws, the Oregon landfills operated by the former Fondessy Enterprises Inc. are a throwback to another era.
Now, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has come up with a new plan to minimize the risk posed by them to local groundwater supplies.
The state agency yesterday opened a public comment period on its plan to have Envirosafe Services of Ohio Inc. spend unknown millions to fortify old caps over four of the Fondessy landfill cells as well as stabilize two oil ponds.
The agency also wants devices installed so the watery slurry of chemically tainted waste known as leachate can be pumped out and treated.
Written comments will be taken through May 15. Comments also can be aired at a May 3 public hearing at the East Toledo Family Center, 1020 Varland Ave. in Toledo. The hearing will follow an information session that begins at 6:30 p.m.
Constructed as far back as 1954, the Fondessy pits were built in an era when dumps were just holes dug in the ground for all kinds of municipal garbage and industrial waste to get mixed together.
Unlike today’s landfills, they weren’t lined with plastic to prevent seepage. At best, landfills of that era had thick clay buffers between the waste and groundwater.
“We don’t have a specific listing of what’s in there,” Dina Pierce, an Ohio EPA spokesman, said.
A lot changed nationally since 1984 when amendments to the national Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 gave the U.S. EPA its authority to restrict disposal of hazardous waste. States were required to develop strategies for addressing older landfills.
Envirosafe must pay for the improvements because it bought the Fondessy property in 1983 to turn undeveloped land at the site into a dump licensed to accept certain types of hazardous waste.
“When they bought the property, they bought the liability for it,” Ms. Pierce explained.
Doug Roberts, Envirosafe president, acknowledged the upgrades will be expensive, but said the company will comply.
“It will be millions of dollars by the time it’s done and will take a few years,” he said.
The Ohio EPA’s site investigation began when the proposed work plan for it was submitted April 23, 2001, Ms. Pierce said.
The Toledo Blade
OREGON, OHIO - Built long before the modern era of solid waste laws, the Oregon landfills operated by the former Fondessy Enterprises Inc. are a throwback to another era.
Now, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has come up with a new plan to minimize the risk posed by them to local groundwater supplies.
The state agency yesterday opened a public comment period on its plan to have Envirosafe Services of Ohio Inc. spend unknown millions to fortify old caps over four of the Fondessy landfill cells as well as stabilize two oil ponds.
The agency also wants devices installed so the watery slurry of chemically tainted waste known as leachate can be pumped out and treated.
Written comments will be taken through May 15. Comments also can be aired at a May 3 public hearing at the East Toledo Family Center, 1020 Varland Ave. in Toledo. The hearing will follow an information session that begins at 6:30 p.m.
Constructed as far back as 1954, the Fondessy pits were built in an era when dumps were just holes dug in the ground for all kinds of municipal garbage and industrial waste to get mixed together.
Unlike today’s landfills, they weren’t lined with plastic to prevent seepage. At best, landfills of that era had thick clay buffers between the waste and groundwater.
“We don’t have a specific listing of what’s in there,” Dina Pierce, an Ohio EPA spokesman, said.
A lot changed nationally since 1984 when amendments to the national Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 gave the U.S. EPA its authority to restrict disposal of hazardous waste. States were required to develop strategies for addressing older landfills.
Envirosafe must pay for the improvements because it bought the Fondessy property in 1983 to turn undeveloped land at the site into a dump licensed to accept certain types of hazardous waste.
“When they bought the property, they bought the liability for it,” Ms. Pierce explained.
Doug Roberts, Envirosafe president, acknowledged the upgrades will be expensive, but said the company will comply.
“It will be millions of dollars by the time it’s done and will take a few years,” he said.
The Ohio EPA’s site investigation began when the proposed work plan for it was submitted April 23, 2001, Ms. Pierce said.
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