Eaton Township residents opposed to Ross Environmental rezoning host informational meeting

EATON TWP. — Residents backing a referendum to stop the rezoning to allow a monofill at Ross Environmental held an informational meeting Tuesday evening. The referendum, Issue 19 on the March 19 ballot, looks to stop the rezoning of 65 acres of land on Giles Road owned by the incineration company from light to heavy industrial. The rezoning would allow for a monofill for ash created by its incinerator operations. The Board of Trustees approved the zoning change after a series of well-attended and contentious meetings last fall. After the 2-1 approval, a group of residents formed "Stop Toxic Threat" to put the issue before the voters. It started with the East Palestine train derailment, group member and township resident Elizabeth Rattray said Tuesday to a group of about two dozen attendees at Annika's Event Center. "Our only connection to that is that it woke us up to look at what our zoning said," she said. Ross Incineration began accepting debris from the derailment in March 2023, about a month after the incident. She highlighted the permitted uses in heavy industrial zoning in the township — including the storage, transportation, disposal, burial, burning and other activities related to solid and liquid wastes. She said Eaton Township placed a moratorium on heavy industrial rezonings to give the zoning commission time to review the code — noting there are already hazardous sites in the township, including a fly ash dump, multiple salvage yards and an area storing fracking brine. She and others expressed concerns about pollutants from the sites making their way into the water table. The rezoning would allow Ross to build a monofill for ash created as a byproduct of its incineration operations. The company has previously disputed Stop Toxic Threat's claims about the hazards the rezoning creates. Members of Stop Toxic Threat previously claimed the ash Ross wants to bury would contain heavy metals like cadmium and lead. Ross has countered that the ash is "inert" and that for safety, it mixes the ash with other materials and buries it under a cover to prevent it from leaching into the soil. The company said the liner underneath the ash should last 400 years, but residents disputed that claim, citing a statement by the EPA that no liner is guaranteed to stay intact. Cam Rhodenhamel, who owns property in the township, said what would be buried on the site must be buried forever, according to the EPA. "That should tell you how bad it is," she said. As a combat veteran exposed to toxic chemicals in the Gulf War, she said she does not want to see anyone go through the lasting health impacts she has from her exposure 30 years ago. Ross previously stated the monofill will be covered to prevent erosion and local water sources will be monitored for pollution. The project "was developed with guidance from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the design is protective of human health and the environment," Ross said in prepared statement at the rezoning's passage in October. Former Township Trustee Donna Hicks said the rezoning is not going to impact people her age, but residents' children and grandchildren. "This township will be like one great big landfill if we don't stop it," Hicks said. "And once they get the first rezoning done, it just goes on and on and on." Stop Toxic Threat hopes to address not only the proposed monofill but all of the potentially hazardous materials and industries allowed in the township's heavy industrial zoning. "Remember the people of East Palestine and what they're living — their horror, their nightmare is not over and we don't want to end up like that," Rattray said. "Theirs happened because of an accident, ours is a little bit more preventable." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.