In Ohio, that's illegal

Lynn Anderson at Republic Services Carbon Limestone Sanitary Landfill in Lowellville, Ohio. ©Steven Rubin/Public Herald Read all stories here: Part 1: Toxic waste piles up Part 2: In Ohio, that's illegal Part 3: Radioactive for 1,600 Years YOUNGSTOWN — Lynn Anderson spent her teen years exploring a piece of land that sat right on the border between Ohio and Pennsylvania. "We used to swim in the quarry lake. I would ride my horse down there. There were nice switchback trails, trees, all kinds of waterfowl and critters," said Anderson, remembering back to 1972. "You could ride your horse for miles down inside the quarry." Since 1894, that land had been owned and operated by Carbon Limestone Co., which became one of the largest limestone producers in Ohio. But by 1972, when Anderson was 15, all the limestone had been extracted and she roamed the uneven land freely. Twenty-five years later, in 1997, Anderson returned to her old stomping grounds in eastern Ohio, hoping to again walk the trails and dip a toe in the water. But a surprise awaited her — the land had been transformed. "There was flat land as far as you could see. It was totally filled. It was called BFI. There was a guard shack on one side. You couldn't get in it," Anderson said. "I could not believe we had that much (trash) that we filled up that much area hauling in crap." She blames state officials — including a former governor and our current governor — for failing to protect the environment. "There's Kasich and it's DeWine. ... they know that we have brownfields that have never been cleaned up from the steel mills." That failure has caused "tons of cancer" in communities in Ohio, according to Anderson. Continue reading Part 2 * Investigative journalists Joshua Boaz Pribanic, Melissa A. Troutman, Jake Conley and Elijah Labby contributed to this story. Funding for this series was made in part by the Park Foundation.