By Carrie Spencer
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - A lawmaker proposing dumping fees for construction landfills dismissed concerns that changing what debris is allowed in the facilities might allow more toxic garbage into the largely unprotected dumps. Environmentalists and solid waste officials have expressed doubts about the plan.

"I have more faith in the health department inspectors than, obviously, they do," Rep. Shawn Webster, a Hamilton Republican, said Wednesday.

Haulers would pay about $3.7 million yearly to bury construction and demolition debris in Ohio under the proposal, with most of the money going to local health departments. The House passed the bill Wednesday and sent it to the Senate.

Lawmakers on Wednesday added a provision that bans lumber containing arsenic from the dumps. Construction landfills built before 1996 have no linings to stop pollutants from reaching streams or aquifers.

Chris Jones, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and others who testified before a House committee last week said smaller parts of the bill dealing with the definition of construction waste could have "unintended consequences."

Webster said the health departments would guard against them.

"The main intent of the bill is to provide a revenue source to fund local health departments to inspect this stuff," he said.

The bill would replace a $3,000 annual license fee for the 71 landfills with disposal charges of 30 cents a cubic yard or 60 cents a ton.

Health boards now collect $1,500 from each license - about $97,500 statewide - and stand to gain $2.8 million to $3.2 million from the fees, according to an analysis by the Legislative Services Commission.