![A portion of the Arco Recycling site in East Cleveland in January 2017. [Nick Castele / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a224d4f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1000x562+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F12%2F24%2F2017arco.jpg)
This year Cuyahoga County and the State of Ohio cleaned up a dump for construction debris in East Cleveland. But it’s not yet clear if the dump’s operators will have to pay the bill.
Arco Recycling had piled the land high with rubble from demolished buildings—angering the neighbors whose homes were nearby.
The Ohio EPA ordered the dump to shut down in 2017, and the state attorney general’s office sued Arco. Cleanup, which finished this spring, ran the state about $9 million.
State officials said they’re trying to recoup that money now. The EPA took out liens on the property, and the AG’s lawsuit is scheduled for trial in June 2019.
Neighbors sued Arco, too. They won a default judgment this year because company representatives never showed up in court.
Whether the neighbors—or the state—get any money is a different question. One of the people named by the AG as an Arco operator, Christina Beynon, filed for bankruptcy last year.
The other, George Michael Riley, claimed in a 2017 court filing that he was no longer involved with Arco. This year, his attorney sought to withdraw from representing him, citing irreconcilable differences.
Neither Beynon nor Riley could be reached for comment.
