LANDFILL RULES MONTHS AWAY May 17, 2007

By STEPHEN ORAVECZ
Tribune Chronicle
COLUMBUS — Local activists are wondering why it is taking so long to adopt tough, new regulations for construction and demolition debris landfills. Lauraine Breda of Lordstown said the Legislature passed a get-tough law in December 2005, and a draft copy of the regulations needed to put the law into effect was completed last August. But the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency still is working on the final copy, she said. ‘‘It’s ridiculous,’’ Breda said. ‘‘We’re all the way to mid-May and we still do not have anything in place.’’ State Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard, said she has gotten calls asking the same question.
At a focus group on the rules Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio EPA environmental manager Scott Heidenreich said it will take several more months. The EPA still is taking public comments on the draft rules and making some changes, he said. This process includes plans for a series of focus group meetings with concerned citizens and representatives from the industry and the health boards that regulate the landfills to make the rules as clear as possible and to address issues that could create opposition.
One such issue is an EPA proposal to require new or expanding C&DD landfills to install a liner to prevent water from leaching out of the landfill and possibly contaminating water supplies. Some in the industry want the EPA to explain the science it used in developing the regulation. Others say the liner goes beyond the regulations approved in the Legislature.
Heidenreich said the law does not specifically call for liners, but he said research the EPA did after the bill passed showed they are needed. Heidenreich said the EPA is not negotiating with any of the interested parties, but it is listening and responding to thoughts and suggests that can improve the regulations.
The EPA is considering a request from the parties to give them 90 days to make additional comments on the draft before the rules are submitted to the Joint Committee on Rules and Regulations (JCARR), a panel of lawmakers that gives the rules their final approval. Once the rules get to JCARR, there will be about one month for public comments before a public hearing is held. At that point, JCARR will hold a hearing that will give people their final chance to comment on the rules before the panel votes on the regulations.
However, after the public hearing, the EPA could decide the rules need more work and pull them back for more revisions. The new rules will include requirements to monitor water leaching out of the landfills or nearby groundwater, certification and training for operators, prohibitions on accepting debris that is pulverized to the point it cannot be recognized as construction material, procedures to properly shutdown a landfill and buffer zones.
Breda thinks there have been enough delays. ‘‘At least get the groundwater monitoring in started so we can start finding out what’s there,’’ she said.
soravecz@tribune-chronicle