OEC - Construction and Demolition Debris

Landfills & Waste -
Construction & Demolition Debris

The OEC helped shape an historic upgrade to the state laws controlling the safe disposal of the leading type of out-of-state waste: construction and demolition debris.

Every month, trainloads of cars heaped high with mounds of old building debris depart the East Coast and head west. Their destination: cheap, loosely regulated construction and demolition (C&D) debris landfills in Ohio.

Starting in 2006, though, that trash will be met at the state line by a tough new law the Ohio Environmental Council helped write. Ohio is one of the few states that treats construction and demolition debris differently than mixed municipal waste. Lawmakers historically have accepted the notion that CDD waste is inert and poses no threat to groundwater or land, even though government and university studies have confirmed that dangerous chemicals can be present in CDD waste or CDD waste leachate. But now that Ohio House Bill 397, sponsored by State Rep. John Hagan (R-Alliance) has become law, the Ohio EPA and county health boards will have broad new powers to control C&D waste, including mandatory:

• Expanded groundwater monitoring and leachate testing for toxic contaminants

• Setback buffers at new landfills to separate C&D waste from water wells, waterways, parks, preserves and occupied dwellings

• Background checks on new landfill applicants for environmental compliance history

• Contingency plans for fires and explosions and for hydrogen sulfide and other threatening, offensive or nuisance gases

• Financial assurance to ensure proper landfill post-closure care

• Permits to Install and Permits to Operate to foster stronger oversight and enforcement

Governor Bob Taft’s quiet signature on the new legislation on December 22, 2005 stood in stark contrast to years of contentious debate between citizens groups and the industry over whether and how to crack down on C&D waste. A convergence of unexpected events helped culminate in the new law, including:

• The federal government’s declaration of a Warren, Ohio C&D landfill as an “urgent public health hazard” because of toxic gas emissions

• The resourceful efforts several citizens groups, including Our Lives Count in Warren which produced a CD documenting violations and health hazards

• A six-month moratorium on the licensure of new C&D landfills, engineered by State Rep. Thom Collier (R-Mt. Vernon)

• The tireless efforts of key lawmakers, especially State Representatives Thom Collier (R-Mt. Vernon), Randy Law (R-Warren), John Hagan (R-Alliance) and Sandy Harwood (D-Niles) and State Senators Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond) and Marc Dann (R-Youngstown), and of Ohio EPA officials Dan Harris, Laura Powell and Tracy Freeman

• An analysis complied by the Ohio EPA and released to the media by the OEC, confirming the presence of high levels of toxic chemicals in several C&D landfills