Landfill's neighbors in line for payments
Stony Hollow owners OK fund, more work to end odors.
A proposed multimillion-dollar class-action settlement has been reached between neighbors of the Stony Hollow Landfill and its owners over the alleged emission of noxious pollutants dating back years.
“The residents really endured a lot of inconvenience by those terrible odors,” said David Hicks, who fielded hundreds of calls about the odors in 2016 and sought a solution — going so far as to ask Montgomery County to take its trash elsewhere — before he retired as Moraine city manager.
In a tentative agreement, Stony Hollow, owned by Waste Management, agreed to a settlement fund of $1.875 million as well as to put another $1.45 million by the end of 2022 toward further improvement measures to mini- mize the impact of airborne emissions from the landfill. Attorneys’ fees could reach up to $795,000 of the settlement fund, according to court documents.
Moraine and Jefferson Twp. residents lodged hundreds of odor complaints against the Dayton landfill, growing more frequent in April 2016 and remaining persistent. Foul odors also spread
as far as Dayton, Jackson Twp., Kettering, Miamisburg, Oakwood and West Carrollton. In November 2016, Moraine resident Carly Beck filed the federal class-action suit, joined by 100 others. Neither Moraine nor other municipalities were part of the suit.
A court must still approve the proposed settlement reached last month.
Stony Hollow Landfill acknowledges no wrongdoing or liability related to the case.
The proposal to end the federal lawsuit doesn’t illuminate the core cause of the foul odors, which are now seemingly held in check by the combination of gas extraction wells and a membrane that covers 13.5 acres of the landfill — steps the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required the owner to take in December 2016.
But some fear the stench will return if Waste Management is allowed to put the entire landfill back to use — an outcome that is the subject of an unresolved appeal of an Ohio EPA order by the city of Moraine.
“They have been doing their best with available technology to try to mitigate the odor issues ... The frequency in which we receive those complaints is down drastically over the last several months,” said Bryan Chodkowski, Moraine’s new city manager. “Not knowing what is causing the concern ... for Waste Management to have the opportunity to remove the cover and begin utilizing the full facility, we think is not prudent.”
Waste Management did not return calls and email requests seeking comment.
Property owners and renters at any time since Oct. 31, 2012, living roughly within a roughly 2.5-mile radius of the landfill at 2460 South Gettysburg Road have until Sept. 9 to submit a claim. People can exclude themselves, comment or object to the settlement on or before Aug. 25.
But the plaintiffs signing onto the settlement will give up the right to sue again as well as any claim of medical harm or injuries.
How the landfill’s owner might spend the $1.45 million that would be required to help mitigate the problem is unknown but welcome, Chodkowski said.
“Any money that’s spent by Waste Management to resolve this issue is money well-spent, in our opinion,” he said.