If it were up to the Cincinnati Board of Health, the Gray Road landfill would already be facing temporary closure, or at least a fine, for its latest problem with potentially explosive methane gas.
After all, this 86-acre construction-and-demolition landfill in Winton Place has been inspected 211 times in the past two years -- an average of twice a week when state law requires only one inspection a year. In that time, the health department has issued not one, but eight "notices of violation" against the landfill, along with dozens of orders to correct less serious problems.
But come Thursday, when the health board meets to discuss what can be done about the methane gas problem, the issue of punishment won't be on the agenda.
That's because weak state landfill regulations contain no form of escalating punishment for repeat offenders. Short of closing the landfill through a ponderous, months-long process, there's not much the city can do.
"It's a bizarre set of circumstances," said health board Chairman Robert Rinsky. "Our sentiment is with the community. But the rules don't favor the residents."
"If I get caught going 65 (mph) in a 55 zone, I can't tell the police officer that I have a plan to be within compliance in six months," Mr. Rinsky said. "But that's exactly what a landfill can do when it violates the conditions of its license."
The methane gas debate is just the latest chapter in a 13-year story of conflict involving the Gray Road landfill. Neighbors also say it's a cautionary tale for any homeowner who expects action from city government.
"I'm so sick and tired of this," said Gray Road resident Diane Mushaben, a co-leader of a group called the Winton Place Environment Committee. "We got involved when the city was proposing the new regulations (back in 1992). We were gung ho. We had lots of meetings. "We thought the city would finally take care of things," Mrs. Mushaben said. "But the city is as much of a problem as the landfill, really. We ended up having to keep after the health department to get them to enforce the rules they have on the books."
The Gray Road landfill occupies a steep valley between busy Winton Road and semi-rural Gray Road. Depending on the pace of local construction and highway projects, dozens of trucks a day climb narrow, twisting Gray Road to dump loads of rubble.
The landfill owner, Roy Schweitzer, plans to fill the valley enough to create a big flat spot for a light industrial park. "Phase One" might start within two years, with the entire site ready for construction in seven years.
"Fifty (million dollars) to $75 million worth of construction will begin there someday," Mr. Schweitzer said.
However, neighbors have complained about the landfill operation ever since it started in 1985 with a city-issued "cut and fill" permit.
Changing the rules
In the early years, the problems included rat infestations, a landfill fire in 1988, foul odors and concerns about health risks stemming from surface water pooling at the site. The complaints prompted the city to adopt a new set of rules in 1992 for construction and demolition landfills.
The rules produced gradual improvements at the landfill, but neighbors still say their concerns have never been fully addressed. And city health inspectors still spend too much time at Gray Road. Each inspection requires two people, who spend an hour to an hour and a half at the site. All told, the 211 inspections have absorbed more than 500 hours of staff time -- or more than 12 entire work weeks -- at about $17 an hour.
That's just the inspections. Health officials, including senior-level managers, also spend many hours in annual license reviews, meeting with the many concerned parties and preparing reports for health board meetings.
Even though the twice-a-week inspections drain health department resources, neither the health inspectors, nor neighbors, think the city should cut back.
"If they stop inspecting, anything and everything will go into that landfill and nobody will be monitoring the groundwater or the methane gas," Mrs. Mushaben said.
Of the eight recent notices of violation, six focused on "leachate outbreaks" of foul-smelling black liquid that broke through the landfill's soil cover. Another notice cited the landfill -- after repeated warnings -- for accepting too much improper waste. But the most alarming violation has been the most recent one involving methane gas leaks.
Risking a fire
Methane is a natural byproduct of decomposing organic material in a landfill. In a true C&D landfill, one that collects only building debris, there should be minor amounts of methane gas.
But Gray Road accepted tons of yard waste years ago, and it still accepts a controversial amount of cardboard from construction sites, such as boxes that contained new light fixtures.
There are two potential health risks from methane gas, said Tom Kraemer, a landfill expert with the Seattle-based CH2M Hill company.
Under the right conditions, pockets of gas trapped close to the surface could trigger a landfill fire.
Of even higher concern, the gas could migrate off-site through underground gaps and cracks. If it reaches a basement, then builds up, a spark or open flame could trigger an explosion,
In April, routine "bar punch" tests conducted within a foot of the landfill border found unacceptable levels of methane gas. How much of a threat the gas poses remains in dispute and depends heavily on tests to determine how much gas has migrated off-site. The city is spending more than $28,000 to hire Mr. Kraemer as its landfill gas consultant. Mr. Schweitzer also has hired a landfill gas consultant. More tests will be done. Then a remediation plan will be proposed. Then more tests to see if the problem really got fixed.
All this could take months to resolve.
Neighbors want the landfill shut down until the methane gas problem is fixed. But health commissioner Dr. Malcolm Adcock said there has not been enough evidence of a health threat serious enough to justify closing the landfill.
"It's really not red tape. It's due process," Dr. Adcock said. "The early indications are that there isn't any imminent danger." Regardless of the level of risk posed by the methane gas, neighbors and health board members complain that nothing happens to the landfill when things go wrong.
For years, neighbors have reported untarped trucks -- including city-owned highway maintenance trucks -- headed to Gray Road landfill. They've even collected chunks of concrete, slabs of drywall and other junk that has fallen off the trucks.
But it took until March 1997 before Dr. Adcock wrote a memo to the chief of police and the city litter patrol (an arm of public works) calling for more ticket-writing.
Cracking down on washing
Since the "crackdown," however, litter patrol has written only one ticket. An unspecified number of drivers got off with warnings, according to Diane Watkins, a spokeswoman for litter patrol.
"We've conducted several stakeouts along Gray Road. Most of the trucks did have tarps, so (officers) did not consider it a major problem," she said. "We think the litter problem along Gray Road is more from illegal dumping."
Then there's the tire washing issue.
It took more than five years of complaints about trucks tracking mud and gravel onto Gray Road, plus dozens of photos collected in health department files, before the landfill operator agreed to hire a full-time truck washer in the spring of 1997.
The city's orders are clear. The landfill is supposed to use a power washer on every truck, in all weather conditions. But inspection reports as recent as May 12 and May 15 note that truck washing is still not done every time.
Mr. Schweitzer simply doesn't agree with the rules. "A good percentage of the time, the tires don't need washing," he said. Be it methane, leachate or untarped trucks, most of the nine volunteer health board members have said they are tired of dealing with the Gray Road landfill.
"I've only been on this board since February, and so far, we've spent at least 30 percent of our time on this landfill. We're doing an awful lot of work for this gentleman (landfill owner Roy Schweitzer)," said Dr. Rhonda Johnson at a meeting May 26.
"I believe they are in violation of their license right now," said health board member Gerry Kraus. "They should be suspended until they are in compliance."
Mr. Schweitzer's response: every time the city tells him to do something, he does it.
State rules don't require groundwater monitoring wells, nor special pits for fly ash, but he has put them in. The landfill also adapted when rules changed over the years about accepting yard waste, carpet, paint cans and other "non C&D waste."
Now, he has hired consultants to deal with the methane gas issue. "It's a very minute amount of methane gas that's being blown out of proportion," Mr. Schweitzer said. "We have never been a danger to the environment, and we never will be."
While neighbors say they can't get action, Mr. Schweitzer criticizes the city for hassling his business and giving too much credence to neighbor concerns.
"We're filling a hole. There's going to be some nuisance involved with that. That's true of any construction site in the city," he said.
"The city is driving itself right out of the waste market," Mr. Schweitzer said. "Now that ELDA (another solid-waste landfill located in the city) has been shut down, we seem to be the next target."
