State officials resorted to legal action against A & L Salvage in an effort to stop a health threat and environmental hazard caused by the odorous dump outside of Lisbon, OH.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray's office filed the 20-count complaint and preliminary injunction request in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, asking the court to order A & L Salvage to cover the 42-acre dump site with an additional 12 inches of cohesive earthen material within six weeks of the order.

The preliminary injunction request also asked for immediate access to the site for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and its contractors and an immediate elimination of all off-site odors. The case has been assigned to Judge C. Ashley Pike.

The construction and demolition debris landfill stopped operations a year ago, but the odors from hydrogen sulfide remained and became worse in recent months to the point of causing people to become ill with headaches and nausea, a joint press release from the OEPA and OAG said.

The OEPA and OAG offices have been working with the company for a final closure plan to cover the site for over a year with no resolution for a consent decree. OEPA Director Chris Korleski said "enough is enough," according to OEPA spokesman Mike Settles.

"This situation cannot continue as is," Korleski said in a press release. "The odors need to be stopped and the landfill needs to be properly stabilized and closed once and for all."

Residents suffering from the stench have been putting up with the problem for several years, complaining to the Columbiana County Health Board at one point, then going to the OEPA after the state started overseeing C&DD landfills in the county. Settles said Korleski knows how frustrated they've been.

"I am personally grateful for the hard work the OEPA has done. I am also hopeful this court action will finally bring relief for all of us who live around the landfill," state Route 45 resident Don Kibler said in an e-mail.

"We have given A&L Savlage's owners every opportunity to comply with Ohio law and properly close that landfill," Cordray said in the press release. "Instead, they have allowed conditions to deteriorate to a point where we now need the court's help to make things right."

Besides naming A & L Salvage LLC as a defendant, the complaint also named four additional defendants who allegedly own property the OAG has identified as part of the site. Those defendants include Amato Properties LLC, Jack Amato and Jeffrey Aldrich, all of Wellsville, and the Amato Family Trust of East Liverpool.

Dr. Jack Amato serves as chairman of the Columbiana County Health Board, the entity which issued the dump's original permit to operate. A call was made to his home Wednesday evening, but he couldn't be reached for comment.

When asked what those defendants have to do with the dump, OAG spokesman Ali Lehman said they own property that is considered part of the landfill. According to the county Auditor's Web site, A & L Salvage owns about 375 acres along state Route 45 and Black Road. The active part of the dump only covered 42 acres, with the rest being buffer, although the company originally had plans to eventually use the other acreage for dumping.

The company and OEPA reached an environmental pact last year, prohibiting the use of any of the property owned by A & L Salvage as any type of dump in the future. The pact also prohibits any future owners from operating a dump on the land.

The county Auditor's Web site lists Amato Properties, Jack Amato and Jeffrey Aldrich as owners of some land on Black Road, but their names weren't listed on the environmental pact filed in the Recorder's Office. Their names also weren't listed on the numerous complaints filed against A & L Salvage for violations of environmental law.

Those violations form the basis for the lawsuit which requests monetary penalties along with the injunctive relief to alleviate the odors. The violations included acceptance of pulverized debris and solid waste, which is prohibited at a C&DD landfill, improper asbestos handling, and creating a nuisance from the hydrogen sulfide, or rotten egg, smell.

The complaint also noted cliffing of debris, which happens when it's not spread out and compacted on the working face of the dump, improper use of unloading zone, failure to manage surface water and allowing a discharge into Patterson Creek, failing to apply weekly cover to debris, failure to comply with Korleski's orders to implement an explosive gas monitoring plan, failure to pay disposal fees, causing a nuisance with dust, failure to properly dispose and bury asbestos or cover asbestos, failure to surround the asbestos disposal site with fencing, failure to display asbestos warning signs, failure to maintain equipment to wet asbestos or prevent dust emissions from asbestos operations, and failure to minimize dust on roads.

The civil penalties being sought exceed $25,000, with no exact estimate available for each violation. Penalties for at least nine violations were listed as $10,000 per day per violation, with the penalties for another 10 violations listed at $25,000 per day per violation. A tax of $300 was requested against each defendant and their property for the statutory nuisance complaint.

The time period for the complaint began in 2005 and continued to the present. The preliminary injunction request said the landfill "is releasing extremely intense odors and has elevated temperatures indicating the possible presence of a subsurface fire."