MOUNT VERNON — City officials provided a few more comments Friday on the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s order to remove lime sludge from its temporary storage site on Old Delaware Road.
Ohio EPA Director Laurie Stevenson issued an order yesterday requiring the city to remove 7,500 tons of the lime material by Dec. 31. An additional 7,500 tons must be removed by Mar. 31, 2023.
The city must also submit a compliance plan by April 30, 2023, detailing how the city will remove the remaining material by Dec. 31, 2023.
“This really surprised us because we were working diligently and closely with Ohio EPA to develop a plan to allow farmers access to this valuable opportunity,” Mayor Matt Starr said. “This out-of-the-blue order could deprive farmers of that opportunity.”
The city has an OEPA Beneficial Use permit to apply the material to farmers’ fields. Lime sludge from a municipal water treatment plant is an alternative to quarry lime for crop fertilization.
Starr said the city is researching the cost to remove the sludge, a cost he said is in excess of $2 million.
“We continue to work very closely and cooperatively with Ohio EPA to find a mutually agreeable resolution to this,” he said. “We are very aggressively working to find farmers.”
As of Aug. 24, seven farming operations had taken lime sludge for their fields. Starr said on Friday that another farmer will soon take 1,000 tons.
Under the OEPA order, the city has four options for disposing of the lime sludge:
•Use it on land as a replacement for mined lime used for agronomic benefit
•Use it in accordance with other applicable Beneficial Use permits
•Dispose of it in a licensed solid waste landfill
•Any combination of the above
Starr said that if the city were to sell the lime material, it would bring in greater than $2 million.
“To bury it in a landfill seems not the best idea in the world,” he said.
The city has 30 days to appeal the OEPA order but has not yet decided how it will proceed.
“We are still reviewing the order, the factual assertions included in it, and the legal implications so that we can determine if it’s necessary to appeal and the best way to do so,” Law Director Rob Broeren said.
Clinton Township resident Jennifer Grubaugh’s back yard is adjacent to the field where the city is storing the lime material. She previously has voiced concerns about the material affecting the water source for her well, a July spillover of material into her neighbor’s yard, and potential additional breaches of the embankment surrounding the lime.
“It is wonderful to see that the EPA has taken this necessary action. The issued order leads me to believe that the entire situation was mishandled by the city, and their consultants, from the beginning,” she said. “The sludge should never have been moved here. With that in mind, the timeline for removal is very generous.
“I have read the EPA’s order and noted that the city has the option to appeal,” she continued. “I can only make the assumption that the city will appeal. It would be an unfortunate situation for all involved to try to avoid or extend the removal deadline. The EPA has deemed this an urgent situation and it should be dealt with expeditiously.”
