Ohio gets paid; E. Palestine gets paid; Driehaus gets paid - Hamilton County residents get dumped on

Everybody gets paid - for toxic waste except those with it buried in their own backyards in Hamilton County thanks to Driehaus gutting rulesPhoto byThe Cincinnati Post, December 2021

The State of Ohio and some of its residents got paid over $680 million dollars in settlements for toxic waste. Still, Hamilton County residents will not see a dime of it despite much of that toxic waste being dumped in county neighborhoods, bearing the health implications of accepting such waste.

Since Commissioner Denise Driehaus took the helm as the Solid Waste Policy Committee chair, two major lawsuits have been settled. Monsanto is paying out $80 million ( a pittance compared to other like-cases such as the Oregon settlement for $700 million, $550 million in Los Angelos, or billions paid out for Round Up settlements, thanks to Attorney General Dave Yost) to the State of Ohio because:

Ohio has been absorbing the health and environmental costs of PCB contamination for decades, and the cleanup will likely continue for even longer,” Yost said. “This settlement not only holds Monsanto accountable for its actions but also provides significant financial resources to assist in environmental cleanup.” (AG Yost Reaches $80 Million Settlement With Monsanto Over PCB Hazards - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost )

Despite Monsanto's main operation occurring in Hamilton County, the county will not get a dime in settlement funds for the toxic waste dumped at Rumpke's Bond Road landfill for decades.

East Palestine residents got paid. They just settled their case for the toxic spill caused by a train derailment, but despite much of that waste being transported to Rumpke's facility in Colerain Township in Hamilton County - the residents there will get no funds to monitor, treat, or prevent the leachate inevitably discharged from the landfill and constantly transported and recycled back between the treatment center and the landfill, in perpetuity.

Driehaus's pick for a seat on the policy committee who is a paid consultant by Rumpke, the landfill owner they oversaw via the committee.Photo byThe Cincinnati Post, November 2021

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus both got paid, as well as, a handful of other powerful politicians from Hamilton County, such as Supreme Court candidate Joe Deters, county prosecutor Melissa Powers, and Governor DeWine, via the generosity of Rumpke and other corporate interests permitted to dump the worst case scenarios in SW Hamilton County.

As chair of the Solid Waste Policy Committee, Driehaus was urged by organizations such as Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters, Oxbow, Ditch the Dump, Greater Community Groups, Inc., Cardinal Land Conservancy, and Rivers Unlimited to safeguard the county from being the designated landfill for all that ails the state regarding toxic waste through the adoption of county rules for the first time in county history. However, Driehaus gutted the rules proposed by the aforementioned organizations and accepted donations from Rumpke and their lawyers as she shepherded through her controversial revisions that stripped the public of their ability to contest the dumping of toxic, to prohibit the expansion of landfills to accommodate other jurisdictions, to limit outside jurisdictions from using the county as their own garbage disposal destination, to increase tipping fees to discourage the import of the county's #1 hazardous commodity - trash, to the residents' detriment.

Driehaus has been the driver of the county's garbage trucks bringing hazardous waste across the county. Had she passed the rules as approved by the members of the Solid Waste Policy Committee and hundreds of residents who sent emails to all 3 county commissioners, the hazardous waste clean up in Clermont County and that from East Palestine would have been controlled and likely prohibited.

As long as Driehaus is in control of our environment in Hamilton County and the campaign donations continue to come in, Hamilton County residents will suffer the consequences of poor management and oversight.

Two weeks ago, the Greater Community Groups, Inc., appeared before the county commissioners and asked Commission President Alicia Reece to immediately remove Driehaus as her representative on the Solid Waste Policy Committee for malfeasance and the appearance of impropriety in accepting campaign donations from Rumpke, which is overseen by the policy committee. Reece has not yet responded on this environmental justice and equity issue.