Ohio landfill may be on fire

[cmd]

4 clips from a long story with comments from me in parenthesis:

PIKE TWP. Since August, environmental regulators, activists, consultants, a pilot and a landfill manager have clashed over whether an underground fire is burning at the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility.
(This “landfill” is actually a mountain of trash located south of Canton, Ohio along I-77 and with a mile of the Tuscarawas River. )


The first indication that something was wrong at Countywide landfill came from the hundreds of complaints throughout last year from southern Stark and northern Tuscarawas county residents about a nauseating odor. Countywide’s general manager, Tim Vandersall, said consultants went through the landfill’s records trying to figure out the cause.
(The odor has been so bad that I could smell it while driving up the interstate with my windows up and the ventilation system on inside air only. People living in the area cannot stand to go outside. A nearby elementary school had to turn off its ventilation system at one point to keep the stink out. The landfill has tried to solve the stink problem by spaying air neutralizers all around the landfill.)


The plastic liner at the bottom of the landfill — above a claylike matting and 3 feet of clay — helps prevent waste and leachate from leaking into area water. If the liner melts, “hopefully, you have backup systems,” said Thalhamer. “The liner melts, then you have the potential for groundwater contamination.”
(I live downstream. So do thousands of others.)

By Feb. 21, EPA Director Chris Korleski says, he will issue a recommendation on whether the Stark County Board of Health should suspend Countywide’s operating license.
(Korleski is Strickland”s appointee. He has made this landfill his top priority. The republican EPA did nothing to stop this problem. One more example of the Republicans leaving a mess for Democrats to clean up.)


http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=335622&Category=9&subCategoryID=0

[Pierre.Suave]

1. Thats an interesting article

But it highlights the need to find more ways to recycle the stuff we use and use other stuff much more intelligently.

[cmd]

2. Local citizens have been fighting this for years

This landfill was approved by the EPA in spite of warning that it would sit atop one of the largest aquifers in Eastern Ohio. Several men have done weekly inspections at the site and have uncovered numerous violations. The landfill owners have always gotten a tap on the wrist and a wink from the Ohio EPA. I'm ten miles away and don't have to smell this mess. Somedays it is so bad that it makes you gag as you pass it. People in the area are captives. They can't sell their homes. They can't go outside. Corporationss rule.

[phantom power]

3. I like how they can't tell for sure. Maybe it's on fire. Maybe it isn't.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. *sigh* "Hopefully...?"

And if you DON'T have backup systems? Then yer screwn I guess. :eyes: