Landfill owner to pay $160,000 to settle suit

10/26/2001

FOSTORIA - The owner of the San Lan landfill has agreed to pay nearly $160,000 to settle a lawsuit filed this week by the state of Ohio over environmental and financial problems at the Fostoria-area dump.

Hocking Environmental Co. of Logan, Ohio, will be assessed $126,400 in late fees and $33,600 in civil penalties. The company agreed to cap the north and west slopes of the landfill, which are full, and to submit a groundwater quality assessment to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The agreement settles a lawsuit filed in Seneca County Common Pleas Court by the Ohio attorney general's office. The late fees included in the consent order equal five months' disposal fees owed to the Ottawa-Sandusky-Seneca solid waste district.

The state claimed that Hocking Environmental had failed to pay some solid waste disposal fees and correct problems at the landfill, including maintaining an adequate cover over the waste.