MADISON TWP., Ohio (WKBN) – Thursday night in West Point, residents heard from the Ohio EPA about the proposed West Point Renewables landfill that could be coming to the area. Not a single person at the meeting spoke in favor of the landfill. Many are concerned about problems from other landfills in the area being repeated here.

“I don’t trust the Ohio EPA,” said Roger Pound, who lives across the street from a now defunct East Liverpool landfill.

Pound says because of that dump, his well water was poisoned and he had to pay $1,500 to have a water line installed on his property.

“Ten years of not being able to use my property. Ten years of not being able to sit outside. Ten years of nothing but frustration from the EPA,” he said.

Madison Township is the location of the proposed landfill. Township trustee Wayne Chamberlain says no one in the community wants the landfill to go there.

“We don’t want it. There are no positives, it’s all negatives. We’ve had two landfills in our township — they were nothing but a problem. This will be the same way,” Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain said that previously, a landfill was proposed for this area. Thursday night’s meeting was about the air permit, but Chamberlain says a bigger concern is water.

“It’s been undermined with deep mines. They’re there and they are flooded with water. So if any of this water runs down in there, then downhill. It’s obviously going to reach Little Beaver Creek,” Chamberlain said.

Lisbon Mayor Pete Wilson also spoke at the meeting. His village is about 5 miles away from the proposed landfill. He’s concerned with Vogle Holdings’ environmental record. Vogel Holdings is the parent company of West Point Renewables.

“There’s litigation going on right now about their operations in Pennsylvania. To me, that’s a concern. What’s going to happen here depends on company compliance with EPA regulations. Obviously, this company has problems complying with regulations in Pennsylvania. Why is Ohio going to be any different?” Wilson said.

The Ohio EPA declined a formal interview for this story, but a representative said a possible avenue to stop the landfill is for zoning of the land to change. The Ohio EPA did announce they will have other meetings but have not released the dates for them yet.