City garbage pickup may be in jeopardy
By Amy McCullough
The Tribune Chronicle
WARREN - The city had a year to find a place to take its garbage in case the transfer station’s operating license was not renewed. That decision came Thursday and no other option is available.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office filed contempt charges Thursday for the second time against Warren Recycling Inc. and Warren Hills LLC — two entities tied to the now-closed, controversial construction and demolition debris landfill on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Also Thursday, the state Environmental Protection Agency ruled Environmental Transfer Systems Inc. did not pass its background check, which is required annually for solid waste facilities looking to renew an operating license.
‘‘The background check showed that WRI (Warren Recycling Inc) is the owner of the landfill facility and is the operator of the transfer station and because of outstanding compliance issues with Warren Recycling it is not in substantial compliance,’’ said Ed Gortner, of OEPA Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement Unit.
In the second contempt order, Attorney General Marc Dann charges that Warren Recycling and Warren Hills LLC have failed to properly manage and control leachate, failed to submit an approvable closure plan, failed to submit a post-closure plan, failed to implement groundwater monitoring, and that each defendant failed to pay $325,000 in stipulated penalties ordered by the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Nov. 16, 2005.
The OEPA sent a letter to representatives of WRI and ETSI as well as the Warren Health Department Thursday morning, but as of Thursday afternoon the administration said it was not aware of anything new with either facility.
Gortner said the ultimate decision on whether to shut down the facility by denying an operating license is up to the Warren Board of Health, but said there is no time table attached to the law. Messages left for Health Commissioner Robert Pinti both at his office and at home were not returned Thursday.
Safety Service Director Doug Franklin said it is too early to say if residents garbage will begin piling up, but did admit the city has no alternatives available at this time.
Franklin said he would talk with Pinti and the EPA today to determine the city’s options.
‘‘I’m cautiously optimistic that Warren City is going to step to the task and follow the law on the issue. These particular individuals have made a mockery of the environmental legal system in this state and we appreciate the efforts of the attorney general in finally bringing all this information to light,’’ said Debbie Roth, leader of the environmental watch-dog group Our Lives Count.
Last year when the issue with the transfer station came to the forefront, city officials said the only other options were to take the garbage to LAS Recycling in Weathersfield or to a landfill in Poland. Both options would mean a considerable amount of overtime and wear and tear on the city’s garbage trucks, which Renee Cicero, Environmental Services Department Manager, has said are not meant for long-distance driving.
The Tribune Chronicle
WARREN - The city had a year to find a place to take its garbage in case the transfer station’s operating license was not renewed. That decision came Thursday and no other option is available.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office filed contempt charges Thursday for the second time against Warren Recycling Inc. and Warren Hills LLC — two entities tied to the now-closed, controversial construction and demolition debris landfill on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Also Thursday, the state Environmental Protection Agency ruled Environmental Transfer Systems Inc. did not pass its background check, which is required annually for solid waste facilities looking to renew an operating license.
‘‘The background check showed that WRI (Warren Recycling Inc) is the owner of the landfill facility and is the operator of the transfer station and because of outstanding compliance issues with Warren Recycling it is not in substantial compliance,’’ said Ed Gortner, of OEPA Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement Unit.
In the second contempt order, Attorney General Marc Dann charges that Warren Recycling and Warren Hills LLC have failed to properly manage and control leachate, failed to submit an approvable closure plan, failed to submit a post-closure plan, failed to implement groundwater monitoring, and that each defendant failed to pay $325,000 in stipulated penalties ordered by the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Nov. 16, 2005.
The OEPA sent a letter to representatives of WRI and ETSI as well as the Warren Health Department Thursday morning, but as of Thursday afternoon the administration said it was not aware of anything new with either facility.
Gortner said the ultimate decision on whether to shut down the facility by denying an operating license is up to the Warren Board of Health, but said there is no time table attached to the law. Messages left for Health Commissioner Robert Pinti both at his office and at home were not returned Thursday.
Safety Service Director Doug Franklin said it is too early to say if residents garbage will begin piling up, but did admit the city has no alternatives available at this time.
Franklin said he would talk with Pinti and the EPA today to determine the city’s options.
‘‘I’m cautiously optimistic that Warren City is going to step to the task and follow the law on the issue. These particular individuals have made a mockery of the environmental legal system in this state and we appreciate the efforts of the attorney general in finally bringing all this information to light,’’ said Debbie Roth, leader of the environmental watch-dog group Our Lives Count.
Last year when the issue with the transfer station came to the forefront, city officials said the only other options were to take the garbage to LAS Recycling in Weathersfield or to a landfill in Poland. Both options would mean a considerable amount of overtime and wear and tear on the city’s garbage trucks, which Renee Cicero, Environmental Services Department Manager, has said are not meant for long-distance driving.
