On November 28, 2016, the Ohio EPA issued an interim order to Stony Hollow establishing several action items on a set schedule. As of today, we have completed all action items on schedule, including:
- Increased odor surveys in the surrounding community to at least three times each day, every day: This has been underway since early December and will continue throughout the holidays and into the new year.
- Conducting weekly ambient air monitoring: This has been underway since early December and will continue throughout the holidays and into the new year. All air samples have come back normal and have been shared with RAPCA and Ohio EPA.
- Established a protocol to notify the Ohio EPA and other local government officials of any facility malfunctions, power outages or events that may cause the migrations of odors beyond the landfill property: Since early December, we have provided weekly project updates to officials and have a protocol in place to immediately notify this group of any issues. We have also met face-to-face with several local leaders to keep them apprised of progress at the landfill.
- Installed backup power sources for the landfill’s gas extraction system and leachate collection system: We have installed backup generators to provide emergency power to ensure continuous operations of critical systems in the event of a major power outage in the area.
- Replaced the secondary gas flare with a larger capacity flare: In early December, we replaced the secondary gas flare with a larger flare to handle additional gas capacity, which will help eliminate more collected gas.
- Completed installation of the temporary synthetic cap: Installation of the cap liner is complete, covering 13.5 acres of the landfill. The next step is to create the vacuum seal, which requires some fine tuning of the gas wells and flares. The team will be working through the holidays and into the new year on establishing a strong vacuum under the cap to direct gas to the larger capacity flare which should significantly help with odors.
Ohio EPA officials have been onsite monitoring our work and collaborating with our team on a long-term odor management plan that they will approve and monitor in 2017.
As we approach the holidays, please know that all of us at Stony Hollow Landfill remain committed to resolving odor issues as quickly as possible. While the landfill is not open for waste disposal on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, our engineers will be closely monitoring all systems and will be on site working on the days and weeks around the holidays. Our daily odor surveys and weekly ambient air monitoring will continue throughout the holidays and into the new year.
