Continue the fight
BOLIVAR - We support the decision by Tuscarawas County commissioners to appeal decisions made by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency about the Countywide Landfill near Bolivar.
Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski issued several orders on March 28 aimed at resolving numerous problems at the landfill, including the terrible smell coming from it that has plagued residents in northern Tuscarawas County and southern Stark County for quite some time. Officials also are concerned about underground fires at the facility.
Tuscarawas County commissioners think the Ohio EPA orders don’t go far enough, addressing only short-term issues such as the odor and the fires. They would like the state agency to deal with long-term concerns, such as the impact of the fires on the landfill’s liner and the pressure of water on the liner, which could cause it to fail and lead to contamination of the groundwater supply.
The Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District has decided it doesn’t want to spend the money to appeal the Ohio EPA decision, even though the board has $4 million available to do so, so commissioners are going it alone.
“We’re very adamant that we are not going to abandon northern Tuscarawas County,” Commissioner Kerry Metzger said Tuesday at a county Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Metzger also serves as chairman of the waste district board of directors, which is comprised of the three commissioners from each county.
We are disappointed that the solid waste board doesn’t want to pursue this issue further. We think the board should do whatever it takes to fix the problems at Countywide, both short-term and long-term. After all, that’s the solid waste district’s job.
Fortunately, Tuscarawas County’s three commissioners want to pursue this issue to make Countywide as safe as possible for generations to come. We urge them to continue the fight.
