BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- The highly public and heated battle for the hearts, minds and trash of Warren County residents continues today as both sides square off over a proposed landfill.
On one side stands Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), owners of the soon-to-be closed Bigfoot Run landfill that will reach capacity and close by May. BFI wants to build a new one.
BFI's proposal is opposed by southern Warren County residents who insist a new landfill means environmental threats and lower property values.
At 1 p.m. today, BFI officials will tell the 14-member Warren County Regional Planning Commission that the company needs zoning approval to build another landfill near Bigfoot Run -- a 59-acre landfill on 150 acres -- to handle solid waste.
Bigfoot II, as it has been dubbed, would cost BFI as much as $20 million. But it would eventually save Warren County residents from higher trash hauling fees, say BFI officials, that would result if the county does not allow BFI to replace the county's only landfill. Rob Dolder, district vice president of BFI, said the No. 1 argument his side will make in trying to sway the regional planning commission is that the trash has to go somewhere.
If it does not go into BFI's proposed landfill, the company will be forced to charge more to haul waste to landfills farther away in other Southwest Ohio counties. An estimated 80 percent of the trash dumped into Bigfoot comes from outside Warren County. Trash is hauled from throughout Southwest Ohio to the landfill, including from Hamilton, Butler and Clermont counties, Mr. Dolder said.
"From the public's viewpoint, they need a competitive market here to maintain a reasonable pricing structure," he said in reference to his company's competition with two other waste disposal companies in Warren County.
"We need Bigfoot II to keep prices from going through the ceiling as they very well could," he said.
He said fees paid by waste disposal companies hauling trash into Bigfoot landfill from outside Warren County amounted to $474,000 paid last year to the county for its various waste disposal and recycling programs.
Landfill opponents, however, counter that Warren County residents would gladly pay more than the current average of $8 to $15 per month for trash disposal if it means no new landfill in their community. At least 75 are expected to show up at today's meeting.
"They are health hazards to the underground aquifer, and the dust blowing off them is dangerous," said Warren Reed, president of the anti-landfill group Morrow Environmental Preservation Association (MEPA).
The issue could eventually impact the pocketbooks of each of the more than 141,080 Warren County residents, who individually produce an estimated 4.5 pounds of trash daily.
Dana Doll, director of the Warren County Solid Waste Management District, said the landfill dilemma is indicative of the booming rate of Ohio's second-fastest growing county.
"We grow. That means more people, more businesses and more trash," said Ms. Doll. "For this county, this is the first time we've had to deal with this."
BFI wants the commission to approve its proposal and send its recommendation to the county's Rural Zoning Commission, which meets Sept. 30. The zoning commission is not bound by the planning commission's recommendation and is already scheduled to decide on BFI's zoning request during its meeting on the 30th.
Ultimately, approval is needed from Warren County commissioners and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
If that comes, Bigfoot II could be operating by next summer.
