
DITCH THE DUMP is a true grassroots organization formed by community members concerned about their health and the future of their community. Our organization has been working tirelessly to eliminate the danger of an expansion of what started as an unregulated residential landfill around 1956. Around 1965 the Bond Road dump started receiving the toxic waste materials generated at MONSANTO, INC Addyston Ohio plastics plant. 473 ACRES of HILLSIDE surrounding the original dump has been bought, and permits are being obtained to increase the size of the dump between Bond and Sand Run hills. Western Hamilton County citizens already know what having a dump in their neighborhood entails... constant truck traffic, congestion, dirt, WATER and AIR POLLUTION, poisoned and dead wildlife! It is not only the noxious odor from the garbage, but the toxic overwhelming smell of the fragrance used to COVER UP the odor of the garbage, as it invades your vehicle's fresh air intake and overwhelms your sense of smell for nearly a mile on I-275 between the Blue Rock Road and Hamilton Avenue exits, along the area once called "Mount Rumpke", which has grown into its new name-
"Rumpke Mountain Range".
The history of the Bond Road dump goes back to the 1950s before landfills became State and Federally licensed. Operations and maintenance problems plagued the Bond Road landfill over the decades, as was true of many landfills across Ohio. Bond Road neighbors rightfully complained about odors, spills, noise, truck traffic, and contamination of streams which flowed through the landfill and onto nearby properties. A letter addressed to the Ohio EPA from a returning Vietnam War Veteran, who had walked the area as a kid in the 60's , described the scene he witnessed in August-November 1969, as something he had been subjected to in Vietnam after Napalm or Agent Orange had been dropped on villages..."the awful smell and foggy mist in the air...hillsides of brown leaves and dead trees...barrels and barrels with "hazardous waste" that had been opened and dumped on the ground... water in the creek that was black as coal... dead cows... and no muskrats, squirrels, rabbits, birds or deer to be seen... with it all ending up in the Whitewater River". This Veteran, with what we would recognize today as PTSD, was seeking solace and refuge in the pristine land he had known as a kid, only to be transported back to the living hell he had experienced in Vietnam. Complaints expressed through the years by concerned residents about the landfill's impact on their family's health have been ignored by Hamilton County and the Ohio EPA. In April 1970, a fire erupted at the landfill and neighbors reported that the fire caused extreme coughing and burning eyes. Because the Bond Road landfill opened before permits were required, operators of the landfill accepted everything and anything until 1988 when the Legislature passed a new law requiring existing landfills to apply for permits. Not until 1990 did the Ohio EPA approve the first permit for the Bond Road landfill a FULL TWENTY-FIVE YEARS after it opened. In 1995, Monsanto sold its Addyston plant, but NOT the Bond Road landfill. They maintained ownership until 2000 when the OEPA approved the sale of the landfill to Rumpke. Rumpke still owns the Bond Road Landfill but has only made token deliveries of waste to legally keep it open. In February 2021, Rumpke announced that it had bought additional acreage, expanding its land holdings from Monsanto to a total of 576 acres. Public records show that Rumpke spent more than $7 million for the additional acreage. Subsequently, Ohio EPA approved permits for the dump to increase the daily limit it could deposit at the Bond Road landfill from100 tons per day to 1500 tons per day. They also obtained a permit for a new access road which they have started to construct. Yet, problems of seeps, and leaks as well as overflows of LEACHATE-GARBAGE WATER and other operational problems have continued sporadically- but almost assuredly, when it RAINS! Residents remain concerned about the future plans for the 576-acre Bond Road Landfill. With every hard rain, we worry about the Monsanto industrial waste beneath the original 103-acre landfill and remain uncertain about the impact of that waste and any future dumping on the sites.
DITCH THE DUMP has 1,700 members on the Bond Road Landfill Expansion Facebook Discussion Page. We have 1,300 signatures from people who oppose the future development of the Bond Road Landfill.
WE ARE NOT ALONE! The Sierra Club Miami Group, the Oxbow Conservancy and the League of Women Voters have all committed to standing with us.
There are other groups who have worked on our behalf such as CROW (Citizens for the Rights of the Ohio River Watershed), We Thrive,
Green Acres Kayak, the Center for Health, Environment & Justice and Our Road to Walk.
The ENTIRE area of Whitewater Township, Ohio is a geological wonder whose timeline spans 200 millions years ago, starting with the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea. The large area that extends from Michigan to Alabama sits on what is called the "Cincinnati Arch", spanning 500 miles long and 100-250 miles wide. It is a broadly structural uplift of material that was laid down during the Ordovician period. Hamilton County sits in an area gifted with fossils from this period to the extent that it is considered an "index location" for Ordovician fossils, and why the University of Cincinnati has a worldwide reputation in Geology and Paleontology. It is not out of the realm of possibilities that a world class fossil could exist in your own backyard. On top of that Arch, the western half of Ohio has been visited time after time by GLACIERS that have sculpted and rearranged the area. The area in green in the map above shows where glaciers have visited the state multiple times. For more information: Ohiodnr.gov/business-and-industry/services-to-business-industry/gis-mapping-services/ohio-geology-interactive-map
About 1.5 million years ago, the earth experienced periods of extreme cold, separated by periods of very warm weather. During the cold phases, glaciers started forming in Canada and moved south. Whitewater Township was visited by three of these glaciers... the Pre-Illinois, the Illinois and the Wisconsonian. The glaciers left behind 5 great lakes in northern Ohio and Michigan where the ice thickness was approximately 1 mile in depth. It was still1000 feet thick by the time it reached Columbus, and by the time it got to southern Ohio, the glaciers terminated and rerouted the Ohio, Little and Great Miami and the Whitewater several times. The sand, gravel, shale and rock that was pushed here by the glaciers, makes Ohio one of the top states for aggregate supply. The glaciers were also partially responsible for the massive supply of ground water through the western 2/3rds of the state. The map above shows the area of concern; in the dark tan "Id" area to the left, you will see Sand Run Road and Fox creek... a hillside of sand and gravel.
Cincinnati is known as the city on 7 hills, and that is just downtown. The entire county is built on hills... Western Hills, Greenhills, North College Hill. And between the hills, you have streams, creeks and river; three rivers to be exact in Whitewater Township. The area of the proposed dump expansion sits on a HILLSIDE that drops over 415 ' at a 4.36-degree gradient, for 1.4 miles and ALL runoff ends up in the Whitewater River. The entire hillside, according to the Ohio Geographical Survey is one large, dissected ground MORAINE of sand and gravel, which is slowly being pushed downhill by gravity, gradient and water. Trees have a difficult time growing past a certain weight and girth. Lawrenceburg, Sand Run and Bond Roads from Suspension Bridge to Brooks Road is an example of these issues, with telephone poles and trees leaning and falling, and the road sliding down toward the river. The picture above is an oak tree in spring that was no longer supported by the sand and gravel around its roots. For more information: hcsecd.org Search for: landslides_in_hamiltoncounty_hcswcd_2011.pdf
Hamilton County is one of the "most landslide-prone" areas in the United States. The region's GEOLOGY, history of development, and heavy rainfall all contribute to the risk of landslides. Hamilton County has RULES for building on hillsides to protect the environment, minimize hazards, and ensure the stability of hillsides. "Landslides and Mass Wasting are the result of a change in the relationship between two physical forces that oppose each other on a hill. One is the earth's GRAVITY, and the other is the frictional strength that causes hillside material to resist movement, or FAILURE. Gravitational forces increase and a landslide may occur as cover fill, construction debris, or other heavy substances (tons of garbage) are loaded on the top or slope of a hill". A landslide may also occur when the hillside materials are lubricated by excessive amounts of water. Hamilton County has experienced NINE 100-year storms since 2011! Heavy rainfall can oversaturate hillsides and cause landslides. Add to that, our area is prone to earthquakes; Ohio is on the fringe of the New Madrid zone.
For further reading on this subject: Geology is Destiny
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE addresses the exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms associated with RESOURCE EXTRACTION, HAZARDOUS WASTE, and LANDFILLS. NO individual group of people should bear a DISPROPORTIONATE share of the negative environmental consequences from INDUSTRIAL OR COMMERCIAL operations or policies. The EPA is supposed to provide an environment where ALL people, NOT just the RICH, enjoy the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to maintain a healthy environment in which to live, learn and work. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
According to Ohio EPA estimates, millions of animals and birds have lost their lives at the Colerain Landfill. No one knows the true number of animals and birds lost, as they can run or fly off and die elsewhere where they can infect other animals. Ohio and especially Whitewater Township has been very proud of the fact that we have numbers of nesting raptors, especially the EAGLE, which was finally, formally named the OFFICIAL BIRD of the U.S.A. Besides the birds, we have the Indiana Brown bat, and the Little Brown bats, both of which are endangered and necessary in the healthy ecosystem we are trying to maintain. The Whitewater River is known as a Class 1 stream, making it one of the cleanest rivers in the state, with near-perfect attainment for aquatic life, except ODNR has recommended not eating more than one fish a month caught in the river. When we poison and kill off our wildlife, we are most certainly poisoning and killing off ourselves. Avian bird flu has made the jump to humans. Millions of chickens and ducks have had to be killed to stop the spread, and it hasn't really worked, judging from the increasing costs of eggs.
For further information: nrdc.org/stories/lure-landfills-how-garbage-changes-animal-behavior
When Hamilton County Engineers made plans for the intersection of Kilby and Suspension Bridge Roads, they did their usual lack of planning and UNDER-ENGINEERED the intersection and went CHEAP like they usually do on the WEST side of the county. Want to see the smallest ROUNDABOUTS in Hamilton County? Go check out the abysmally smallest roundabouts they could install next to Harrison and Three Rivers schools. It wasn't a matter of space or pre-existing roads, there was PLENTY of room. BUT it is the normal attitude of Hamilton County towards the West Side. GO CHEAP and GO HOME. It is IMPOSSIBLE for a Semi-Truck to make a turn from Kilby onto Suspension Bridge Road and STAY in their lane. The picture above shows what happens with regular frequency. NOW, imagine, tankers and dozens of fully loaded garbage trucks making the turn and continuing down the two-lane road that has NO SHOULDERS. Hamilton County doesn't care. THEY would not be harmed, delayed or inconvenienced.
Landfills need to be constantly maintained. They are never "done" because they will always pose a threat to health and safety. Landfills ALWAYS LEAK. Liquid ALWAYS runs downhill. Gravity ALWAYS wins. Major considerations need to be taken when citing a landfill and checking only two boxes on a long list of requirements and then just boldface lying ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE, is not going to work. The TOXIC runoff (leachate) that is trucked from the current Bond Road dump after every rain, is routed down the curvy 2 lane Brooks Road, where not one semi-truck has ever made it down or up while staying in their lane the entire trip. There is no plan to have an on-site disposal of the leachate, so it will continue to be taken to the Harrison Sewer to NOT BE treated any differently than Municipal Solid Waste. Once again, Hamilton County continues to treat the West Side just like the garbage they want to pawn off on us.
For further reading on this subject: epa.gov/landfills/municipal-solid-water-landfills
Supposedly, the OEPA is concerned about "protecting surface water, ground water, and air". They MAY even consider social or economic impact of the air contaminants, water pollutants or other adverse environmental impact. Ohio EPA has openly said they will NOT consider the following issues:
NOISE, ODORS, Increased truck traffic, diesel air pollution, dripping of garbage water directly into the Whitewater River from the trucks and from the dump, stormwater flooding in the area, stream segments or wetlands designated by OEPA as a state resource water, a cold-water habitat, or an exceptional warm-water habitat if they are more than 1000 ft from the solid waste placement at the landfill facility.
These exclusions from consideration by the OEPA are contrary to their own regulation and to statements frequently made by OEPA personally that the purpose of the applicable regulations is to "Protect public health and the environment".
Our mission is to keep the Whitewater Township, Valley and River safe, healthy and livable. We are having a catastrophe pushed on our area for one reason-GREED. Whitewater Township has no zoning, which has helped the area grow with many small and LARGE corporate businesses, but it has become a dumping-ground for all of Hamilton County and surrounding areas. Rumpke is a PRIVATELY OWNED business. They are NOT a municipal service. THEY ARE SUBJECT TO RULES AND REGULATIONS! They can hear the word NO! There are thousands of acres of FLAT LAND where a landfill can be placed. WHY are we expected to take ALL the trash from Hamilton County? From Butler County?
It's UNHEALTHY!!!
Landfill Gas contains about 50% Methane, 50% carbon dioxide and a small percent of (NMOC) nonmethane organic compounds. Methane is a potentially explosive gas, which is a MAJOR contributor to climate change, and it is similar to carbon dioxide; in high concentrations it poses a potential asphyxiation risk. NMOCs contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and vinyl chloride. Potential risk to these organic compounds can cause eye and skin irritation, cancer, nervous system disorders, and birth defects. The map to the left shows the potential 5-mile unhealthy STINK area around the present Bond Road Landfill (in blue) and the expansion (in red). An outline of Whitewater Township is in fuchsia pink. Colerain landfill proudly boasts of creating more METHANE than any other landfill. Sure, they use some of it, but a poisonous amount is released on a daily basis. A growing consensus between economists, is that the air pollution from a dump and a highway, adversely impacts health, productivity and cognition. There is evidence of a causal link between aggressive behavior, as documented by violent crimes. Crimes on the leeward side of the Colerain supersized dump is virtually non-existent, while crimes committed by residents living downwind of the dump are making the nightly news. The thing is, it does not have to be this way. Rumpke does everything they can to continue their business-as-usual way... their technology is 50 years old. Hamilton County had a very well-thought-out plan to increase recycling and Rumpke basically paid to have it shut down. You know, profits are everything. 43% of garbage brought to the Colerain dump, is from out of the county. WHY are we supposed to take other people's trash? YOU made it... YOU DEAL WITH IT!!! If a company makes hazardous waste, the cost of its production should be figured into their costs, not shuffled off to the general public to deal with. Monsanto/Lanxess/Bayer/Ineos is planning on closing their Addyston plant. We can't wait to see what happens to that toxic mess. The State of Ohio got $80 Million from suing Monsanto for knowingly poisoning workers and communities in Ohio. How much of that money went to cleaning up, or compensating the people who were harmed by Monsanto in Whitewater Township? Zero, NOTHING, NADA, SQUAT. What happened when INEOS almost blew up 6 tankers full of styrene in North Bend? Same thing... NOTHING!
For years, concerned local citizens have written letters, emails, and attended meeting to make our voices heard. We have tried to collaborate with local officials, only to be told our concerns do not matter. But garbage is not going to go away and our desire to STOP THE EXPANSION is not going away. Contacting the Hamilton County Commissioners the way we have in the past, reminds them how important this matter is to US, our COMUNITY, our FUTURE HEALTH, and our FAMILIES. We rely on the generosity of our supporters to fund our advocacy and outreach efforts. Please consider making a donation that will help us continue to fight to keep land that has a higher and greater use as an undisturbed unique education park, and not a hole in the ground filled with garbage that is guaranteed NOT TO STAY on a hillside. Stay up to date on the latest news and events from our organization. Follow us on social media or attend a local event to connect with our community.
Denise Driehaus President-Board (513) 946-4406 Denise.Driehaus@HamiltonCountyOhio.gov
Kevin Tighe Chief of Staff (513) 946-4405 Kevin.Tighe@HamiltonCountyOhio.gov
Lilah Foley Dir. of Pub Affairs (513) 946-4406 Lilah.Foley@HamiltonCountyOhio.gov
FAX 513-946-4444
Stephanie Summerow Dumas Vice President of the Board (513) 946-4410 Stephanie.SummerowDumas@HamiltonCountyohio.gov
Bobby Hilton Chief of Staff (513) 946-4409 Lewis.Hilton@HamiltonCountyOhio.gov
Kimberly Lee Admin. Assist (513) 946-4410 Kimberly.Lee@HamiltonCountyOhio.gov
Alicia Reece Commissioner (513) 946-4401 Alicia.Reece@HamiltonCountyohio.gov
Vada Stephens II Chief of Staff (513) 946-4402 Vada.Stephens@HamiltonCountyOhio.gov
We welcome feedback, questions, and partnership opportunities. Contact us via email, or social media.
Your contribution helps us fight against the expansion of ANOTHER unhealthy dump in our neighborhood! To stay connected and pay for this website, takes donations. At present, 7 out of 10 dumps in Hamilton County are in OUR NEIGHBORHOOD! We are asking for our share of ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE!!!
Fighting the good fight against a future catastrophe in Whitewater Township, Ohio
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