By Reid Forgrave
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLERAIN TWP. - Part of Mount Rumpke will soon be a bit taller.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved final air and solid-waste permits for the Rumpke Sanitary Landfill's vertical expansion, the final step in the myriad of regulatory procedures the landfill managers needed to provide for the expansion.

The permit gives Rumpke another 6.4 million cubic yards of capacity in its landfill off U.S. 27 in Colerain Township.

Before the expansion, Rumpke's landfill was due to run out in March 2004, but now the landfill's workable life will be extended for three more years, said Rumpke spokeswoman Amanda Wilson.

The expansion covers a 65-acre area near the west side of the Rumpke property along U.S. 27., partly in an existing part of the landfill with a lower elevation and partly on top of a piece of land that hadn't previously been used for landfill.

After a public hearing in March, the Ohio EPA concluded Rumpke had fulfilled all qualifications for the expansion, including that the ground-water monitoring system is designed to detect releases of contamination from the landfill, and the landfill is constructed with a liner and leachate collection system, which contains contaminants to the landfill.

Rumpke also has a pending permit request for a 95-acre expansion along the southern boundary of the landfill.

The southern expansion will add 15 years to the landfill's life, Wilson said.

Rumpke and the EPA will hold public hearings for that expansion in early fall.

E-mail rforgrave@enquirer.com