SALEM — Utilities department officials discussed the termination of the city’s consent order with the state of Ohio over phosphorous discharge issues dating back to 2002 Friday with an eye toward the future. 

“This is a tremendous achievement, to be able to wrap this up, and not just wrap it up but implement processes that will be able to serve the city for a long time to come,” said Hodgson. 

On Wednesday Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam gave the final approval necessary to terminate the 2022 consent order between Salem and the state regarding violations levied against the city by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) over phosphorous discharge levels. 

The phosphorous issue dates back to 2002 when the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) issued a renewal permit to the city which imposed a stricter limit on the level of phosphorous the city could discharge into the Middle Fork of Little Beaver Creek from the wastewater treatment plant. While the city appealed the limit to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC), the OEPA’s decision was upheld with subsequent appeals ultimately reaching the Ohio Supreme Court before being rendered moot by the OEPA’s adoption of the federal limits for phosphorous discharge. 

While the consent order was entered Nov. 10, 2022, it was itself the product of years of negotiation after the OEPA and Ohio Attorney General’s Office first issued a proposed 29-page consent decree to the city in February 2013. Those negotiations included the reduction of a $983,000 civil penalty down to $50,000 which was paid in two payments of $25,000 as part of the final agreement. Hodgson said that those negotiations began with a request for a joint meeting, and that over the course of the negotiations it was ultimately agreed that the initial fine wouldn’t be productive, and that money could be better spent rectifying the issues. 

“It all started with communicating that we were on the same page, and we wanted to get things straightened out,” said Hodgson. 

Hodgson said that he was thrilled to have the consent order discharged, and with it the potential for the Attorney General’s Office to reinstate any and all penalties, including that former $983,000 penalty had the city failed to meet the deadline for substantial completion. He also stressed that the order being waived was the culmination of years of work, and that “there have been a lot of people that pulled their weight to get it done.” 

“This means the department is not under any directive to do any additional plant upgrades and that $983,000 penalty is gone; it cannot be invoked. The 24-year saga is over. From our perspective, this is a massive landmark,” said Hodgson. 

Utilities Superintendent Butch Donnalley said the order’s termination was “great news” and that it had “been a long process” to reach that point. Donnalley also championed the hard work that has been and continues to be done by the department’s staff to “demonstrate the plant was being run as well as possible.” 

“With as many years as we’ve been dealing with [the consent order] it’s kind of a big sigh of relief,” said Donnalley. 

Utilities Commissioner Craig Fehr described the termination as lifting “a tremendous burden for the city and the department.” 

That work included both equipment upgrades and revisions to the plant’s sludge treatment process which Donnalley said saw the plant become only the second in the United States to install and implement the PONDUS thermochemical hydrolysis system.  

“Salem has always been on the cutting edge of technology, and this continues that legacy,” said Donnalley. 

Hodgson and Fehr said that the full scope of upgrades at the plant had exceeded the requirements of the consent order, and that they would make the plant more efficient and easier to monitor. Fehr also noted that the upgrades would be reflected in both improved service for the department’s customers and savings on the department’s operational expenses long-term. 

With the consent decree terminated, and the department’s strengthened working relationship with the OEPA, Hodgson said that there was also a possibility that the wastewater plant could be reclassified from a class four plant to a class three plant, and that it’s sludge could potentially be re-classed as class A. He explained that as a class four plant, the wastewater plant is currently required to have a Class-Four Operator as its operator of record, which he said are extremely difficult to find, but if approved for reclassification they would only be required to have a Class-Three Operator. 

If the department successfully gets the plant’s sludge reclassified to class A, not only will it greatly expand the department’s options for disposing of sludge but would be able to give it away as fertilizer. Hodgson said that the application process for both reclassifications was underway and that the department was working with the OEPA on the process.