City Council proposes resolution against toxic waste disposal in Piketon

City Council members expressed opposition to a plan to permamently store hazardous material in Southeast Ohio.

[dropcap txtcolor="#234a83" style="dropcap1"]A[/dropcap]thens City Council’s Committee of the Whole proposed a resolution to oppose the onsite disposal of remaining waste at the Piketon Plant, a plant harbouring toxic waste in southern Ohio, at its Monday meeting.The resolution comes in lieu of U.S. Department of Energy’s decision to build a new landfill to store hazardous material from the plant. Surveys found the facility’s underlying bedrock is cracked. The village of Piketon has asked other communities to weigh in on concerns that the EPA is saying it is going to store the toxic waste on site as a permanent waste storage location. Council Member Chris Fahl claims that Piketon feels as though the EPA has not been an honest broker throughout the process.One such issue is that the proposed site does not fulfill the Toxic Control Substance Act.According to Fahl, Piketon had a consultant come in to look at ground structure and terrain and found fractures in the bedrock right underneath where the EPA wants to do the waste dump. The DoE and the EPA did not disclose this during public meetings on the issue.The dump is less than two miles away from a school and several thousand feet away from residences.The city identified that site as a future potential economic development site. “It basically makes their village known as an toxic waste site. Nobody is going to do any economic development in there,” Fahl said.“It’s another example of Southern Ohio being used as a waste site for the midwest. Economic development is not going to happen if you’re known as the toxic waste capital of the midwest.”