RELATED: Moraine says EPA not acting fast enough on landfill odor issue
The landfill odors have been the focus hundreds of complaints – mostly fielded by Moraine - since April 2016 and prompted a class-action lawsuit. The county even has studied alternative options for its solid waste disposal because of the issue.
For months, WMI officials have said they have sought to stop the odors. Late last year, the Ohio EPA stepped in and filed temporary orders for Stony Hollow to address the problem.
RELATED: Odor complaints have county studying other landfill sites
The agency has been satisfied with its efforts to resolve the issue, documents show.
The South Gettysburg Avenue landfill has drawn odor complaints from Kettering, West Carrollton, Jefferson Twp., Moraine, Oakwood, Trotwood and other jurisdictions.
RELATED: County has no immediate plans to stop hauling waste to landfill
The county’s letter to Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler includes concerns about data related to the landfill’s disposal capacity, as well as information the county contends is related to odor issues, and questions if Waste Management is downplaying the problem.
“Despite the fact that Waste Management has, by its own admission, spent millions of dollars and large amounts of resources on addressing the odor issues at Stony Hollow,” there is limited mention in the company’s report of elevated temperatures at the landfill, according to the county’s letter.
RELATED: Landfill odors have residents fuming
The letter, which lists the solid waste district’s 28 members, notes copies to be sent to local state legislators.
“It also uses the wording ‘elevated temperature event experienced at a portion of the landfill,’ which makes it sounds as if a single incident occurred and it is over,” the letter states. “This wording is inaccurate, and diminishes the ongoing issues at the landfill.”
RELATED: Moraine asks county to stop using landfill
The letter to Butler was approved Wednesday by the county’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee and has yet to be sent to the Ohio EPA director.
“We would greatly appreciate clarification from the Ohio EPA on what the current and future capacity of the landfill is and will be,” it says.
RELATED: Landfill owner agrees with EPA order
The solid waste committee – citing Stony Hollow odor complaints – asked the county to study other alternatives for solid waste disposal.
In February, county staff told the committee the move would be too expensive, costing at least $2.15 million. The county is in the process of preparing for its next solid waste disposal bidding cycle as the contract with Stony Hollow expires next year.
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Instead, it asked the Ohio EPA to take further steps to curtail the Waste Management-owned site’s odor issues that “have caused great hardship for citizens” in at least nine communities.
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