WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — State air quality testing near the former William H. Zimmer Power Station landfill is complete, and the results do not currently point to a health risk, Clermont County commissioners said during a Sept. 23 meeting, according to meeting minutes.
Commissioner David Painter told the board that the Ohio EPA’s air quality tests near the landfill, the subject of months of resident complaints over a rotten-egg-like hydrogen sulfide odor, have been completed and the results are available for public review at the Clermont County General Health District, the minutes said. The situation is not currently considered a health risk, according to the minutes.
Despite that finding, the board discussed the potential need for independent testing of both the water and air in the area surrounding the landfill, the minutes said.
The Ohio EPA began air testing at the site in July after neighbors reported a persistent sulfur-like odor they said caused migraines, body aches, breathing difficulties and nausea, with some residents saying they left their homes for days at a time to escape the symptoms. The coal ash landfill, owned by Texas-based Vistra Corp., sits on the roughly 1,453-acre site of the retired Zimmer power plant and continues to accept waste from other power plants. The agency previously identified the source of the odor as leachate from a sedimentation pond in an older section of the landfill.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Clermont County Board of Commissioners.