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Public Meeting Planned To Air Complaints About Stony Hollow Landfill Odors

Jerry Kenney
/
WYSO

Montgomery County residents could soon have a chance to voice concerns about the Stony Hollow Landfill, south of Dayton. The state EPA has ordered landfill owners Waste Management to hold a public meeting to hear community complaints. The order also calls on the company to take more than a dozen corrective actions and pay $16,000 in fines.

Ohio EPA spokesperson Dina Pierce says the agency has received more than 150 complaints over the last year.

“There have been some issues at the landfill that have resulted in some stronger odors, and those have caused a nuisance issue out in the surrounding community – in Moraine and some of the areas immediately adjacent to the landfill,” she says. 

Among the EPA orders are requirements that Waste Management do more to curb smells, and conduct increased air monitoring both on-site and in surrounding neighborhoods.

Officials say Waste Management officials are complying fully with the orders.

In a statement, Waste Management officials say they, "agree with these orders and will continue to work closely with the Ohio EPA and other regulators to make sure Stony Hollow Landfill completes all action items on schedule and adheres to the standards outlined in the plan. The final findings and orders lay out the appropriate next steps to build on the significant progress we’ve made containing and controlling odors, including:

  • Continuing necessary additions and updates to the gas well collection network, which will build on the work done last year and enhance the efficiency of our system. More gas wells mean more control over landfill gases, which can cause odors if not contained in wells or under the vacuum. This work will begin in May and will be completed by early July.
  • Extending the synthetic cap, which has worked well in helping us contain and control any odors not captured by the well system. This work will begin in July and conclude by the end of August. The cap will remain in place until the Ohio EPA determines with the appropriate data and testing that the area has stabilized.
  • Ambient Air Monitoring: During gas well drilling in the area we will be increasing the frequency of sampling of our ambient air monitoring, adding more monitors and conducting more laboratory testing to ensure the air in and around the landfill is safe for our employees and our neighbors. RAPCA will be conducting periodic monitoring in the community during these activities.
  • Odor Surveillance: We will continue to conduct odor surveillance three times a day, seven days a week.
  • Public Information Meeting: We will host an information session in early June 2017, where community members can learn more about what’s been done at Stony Hollow to address odors and upcoming projects for summer 2017. 
  • Odor Management Plan: The order sets clear guidelines and measurement criteria that must be met before the Ohio EPA will give approval for any changes.

 

Jess Mador comes to WYSO from Knoxville NPR-station WUOT, where she created an interactive multimedia health storytelling project called TruckBeat, one of 15 projects around the country participating in AIR's Localore: #Finding America initiative. Before TruckBeat, Jess was an independent public radio journalist based in Minneapolis. She’s also worked as a staff reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio in the Twin Cities, and produced audio, video and web stories for a variety of other news outlets, including NPR News, APM, and PBS television stations. She has a Master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She loves making documentaries and telling stories at the intersection of journalism, digital and social media.
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