By Dan Klepal
Enquirer Staff Writer

COLERAIN TWP. - About 70 residents attended the final public hearing Thursday night on two permits that would allow the Rumpke Sanitary Landfill to expand. The vast majority were against the permits, and the expansion.

The permits, in draft form until the public comment period ends Aug. 16, would allow Rumpke to send more pollution - known as suspended solids - into Banklick Creek, and approves the design and engineering of a new cell that will hold trash in the southern expansion.

The expansion would increase the Hughes Road facility's authorized maximum daily waste receipt from 8,600 tons to 10,000 tons.

Craig Fissel, a 45-year-old township resident, said expanding the landfill is "embarrassing" for the community.

"Cincinnati is the land of seven hills, and now the highest hill is a landfill," Fissel said. "As a responsible citizen of the area, that's embarrassing."

The purpose of the hearing was for Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials to listen to the public, and to take into consideration any new information that could alter the permit. After more than five years of consideration, those officials heard very little new Thursday night.

But Bill Margrave gave them something to check out. Margrave, 67, lives on Hughes Road and said his house and two others sit within 1,000 feet of the expansion site. If true, that would be a violation of the draft permit.

OEPA officials will have to investigate claims such as the one Margrave made, then will make a recommendation on the permits to agency Director Chris Jones in a few weeks. Jones will make the final decision.

Bruce Whitteberry, a hydrogeologist with the Greater Cincinnati Water Works, asked that agency make force Rumpke to report to his agency any contaminated runoff water or petroleum spills that reach Banklick Creek.

Larry Riddle, landfill manager, said he understands the community concern about the landfill. But, he said, it's the most efficient and least offensive way to handle the region's trash.

"It's very difficult to use other methods of handling society's waste," he said. "Incinerators are disliked as much as landfills."