Countywide: We follow the rules
The Times-Reporter
EAST SPARTA - A spokesman for Republic Services Inc., Florida-based corporate parent of Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility at East Sparta, said Thursday that the landfill’s diligence, not variation in the inspection process, is the reason Countywide has far fewer violation notices than another landfill in the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste District.
Previously, Tuscarawas County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl had said that his interest was piqued by the wide berth between the number of violations the Stark County Board of Health issued to Countywide and the number Tuscarawas County’s board issued to Kimble Landfill at Dover. Abbuhl is awaiting a response from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to a letter he sent about the possibility of having the same inspectors monitor all the landfills in the waste district.
“The Tuscarawas commissioners say we inspect differently – bull,” said Will Flower, Republic’s vice president for communications. “The regulations are the regulations.”
Tim Vandersall, Countywide’s general manager, added that Stark County’s health board is one of the strictest regulatory agencies he has worked with.
“If there’s a violation, they write me up for it,” Vandersall said.
In response, Abbuhl said though he pointed out the discrepancy in violation notices issued, he was not drawing conclusions about the inspection process.
“All I did was make that observation,” Abbuhl said, adding he would leave any determination about how inspections are done to the EPA.
“I don’t know what Mr. Flower’s expertise is in, but that’s what the EPA’s job is ... to make sure the landfills are safe.”
Earlier in April, Republic submitted a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stating that it would cost the company $22 million to comply with an agreement with the Ohio EPA to develop and carry out a plan to solve the odor problem and suppress a fire OEPA believes is burning beneath the landfill.
Flower said that $22 million figure resulted from the company’s engineering and financial departments meeting to “put a price tag” on each section of the agreement, which also calls for such measures as weekly air quality sampling and examining the possibility of expanding the gas control system.
In addition, Countywide has appointed engineer Mike Beaudoin to be the full-time manager of the landfill’s efforts to comply with the OEPA.
Though they will comply with the EPA order to develop a fire suppression plan, Flower and Vandersall still don’t believe such a fire exists. Flower said moisture levels in waste excavated from the section of the landfill in question are too high to indicate a fire, among other signs.
“There’s no flames, there’s no smoke, there’s no soot,” Flower said.
Also, in response to statements last week by Dick Harvey, president of the environmental group Club 3000, Vandersall said that Countywide was suing the group not because it had been gathering information at the landfill, but because the group would not follow safety procedures at the site.
Flower said that the inspection agreement between Countywide and Club 3000 was inherited when Republic acquired the landfill in 1999 from Waste Management Inc.
“It’s a marriage that was doomed from the start,” Flower said. “Is it a headache? Yes. Is it a burden to us? Yes. Will we continue to honor the agreement between Countywide and Club 3000? Absolutely.”
To see the OEPA’s final findings about Countywide, visit www.timesreporter.com/crdf_email/crd_mail.html.
