CLEANING UP OHIO … Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Manager Kenneth Mettler (left) and Special Investigator Moubine Mourad (right) spoke about trending problems in Ohio during the meeting of the Fulton County Emergency Management Agency’s Local Emergency Planning Committee.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Open burning and illegal dumping – particularly of tires – lead the issues the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) is seeing across the state, according to remarks given to a county committee last week.
Officials with the Special Investigations Unit of the OEPA spoke to the Fulton County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) at its quarterly meeting in an effort to spread the word about their efforts across the state and in Northwest Ohio in particular.
Environmental Manager Ken Mettler said the unit’s primary function was to investigate incidents of environmental crime related to things like air pollution, solid waste, hazardous waste, surface water, drinking water, asbestos – anything so long as it’s criminal in nature.
Mettler said his team does not do surprise inspections but must get a criminal search warrant if they need to “barge in on someone.”
Further, he said instances where someone could be charged but it is clear the intent was not criminal, they were happy to work to correct the behavior rather than prosecute.
“We’re here to find criminals, not to make criminals out of people,” Mettler said.
Mettler and Special Investigator Moe Mourad both commented on the dumping and burning issues. Mourad brought up an increase in tire dumping related to fraud.
“Even transporting more than 10 (tires) – you have to be licensed, you have to be bonded, you have to be insured,” Morad said.
Mettler went further, saying if law enforcement sees someone driving down the road with more than 10 tires on their truck and there isn’t clear registration information on the side of the truck, that constituted probable cause for a traffic stop.
“The people you see with 25 tires driving down the road are probably going to dump those tires for some kind of a narcotics issue,” Mettler said.
Morad said there has been a problem of hazardous waste barrels being dumped in Toledo, including 275-gallon totes being dumped repeatedly at one intersection in the city that has additional access down an alley.
In that case, surveillance efforts are being increased due to the uptick in dumping. Wauseon Fire Chief Phil Kessler brought up the issue of open burning, which Mettler said was an issue across the state.
According to Mettler, residents can only burn paper, cardboard, or wood, in a pile no more than three feet across, or they will fall under the open burning regulations of the state.
Again, both Mettler and Moe indicated it was the type of offense which generally required reports from the public to be made aware of the issue and a history of either chronic or blatant violations in order for his unit to become involved.
In all, Mettler’s five-person team covers the entire state of Ohio and processes more than 250 complaints per year.
LOCAL EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEES
LEPCs across the country were created underneath each state’s State Emergency Response Commission, the creation of which were mandated by Congress with the passage of the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act.
All LEPCs are required to include elected state and local officials, officials connected with police, fire, emergency management, public health, environmental efforts, hospitals, and transportation, representatives of facilities that produce, store, or use hazardous materials, community groups with an interest in related issues, and the media.
LEPCs’ primary responsibilities include conducting hazard analyses, reviewing existing emergency plans, and evaluating available resources that could be made available in the event of a chemical accident.
The next meeting of the Fulton County LEPC will be at 11 a.m. on Oct. 4 at 8848 SR 108 in Wauseon.
Jesse can be reached at jesse@thevillagereporter.com