Ohio EPA alleges landfill operator violated permit

7/24/2008

Envirosafe Services of Ohio Inc., which operates the state's only commercial hazardous waste landfill just east of Toledo, violated eight conditions of its operating permit, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency alleged in a letter to the firm.

The landfill on Otter Creek Road in Oregon was unable to produce records regarding some of its monitoring since 2006, did not monitor water levels in "dewatering trenches" last year, and failed to keep the level of liquid in trenches below the maximum allowable levels, the Ohio EPA said in its June 24 letter.

Envirosafe responded to the Ohio EPA Monday and denied each of the agency's findings. The landfill asked that all eight violations be rescinded.

The Ohio EPA's review of field logs from April 9, 2007, through April 28, 2008, identified 21 instances when the liquid level in one of the de-watering trench sumps exceeded acceptable levels.

Water in the trenches, which are near the city of Toledo water lines that run between hazardous waste pits of the landfill, cannot exceed the bottom of those lines, said Dina Pierce, an Ohio EPA spokesman.

The Ohio EPA also said the landfill inaccurately reported conditions in monitoring trench sumps as acceptable when they in fact were not.

"Ohio EPA's review of field logs [from April 9, 2007, through April 28, 2008] for the waterline trenches identified 22 separate instances when the liquid level in one of the monitoring trenches sumps exceeded the invert elevation of the raw waterlines," the letter said.

In 17 of those instances, Envirosafe "made no mention of these excursions and instead identified conditions in monitoring trenches as acceptable at the time of the inspection."

Envirosafe operates its facility along Otter Creek and Cedar Point roads in Oregon.

Kenneth Humphrey, environmental director for the landfill, could not be reached for comment yesterday.