Republic Services Pays $10 Million Settlement for Landfill Fire

Date: October 2, 2009

Source: News Room

Republic Services agreed to pay a $10 million fine to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to resolve past violations related to its troubled Countywide Recycling landfill in Stark County. Earlier this year and under the guidance of the US EPA as well as Ohio EPA, the company completed a $6 million excavation and firebreak that separates an older 88-acre tract where underground fires had been discovered, from a newer 170-acre area that can still accept waste. Under the agreement, approved by a Stark County judge, $3 million of the fine will go towards nearby affected communities while the remaining $7 million will be added to a fund to remediate ''orphaned'' landfills. "The agreement is part of a long process and result of a lot of hard work from a lot of people," said Republic Services spokesman Jeff Kraus. "We look forward to moving forward and continuing to execute remediation plans. We feel we have the team in place at Countywide that can continue all necessary work intothe future."

The documents are available for public review at www.epa.ohio.gov/pic/countywide.aspx.

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