TREMONT CITY — Correction: A previous version of this story cited the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency as the agency represented in the meeting, however it was the U.S. EPA.
A new ban on commercial trucks is not sitting right with some in Clark County.
A landfill sits close to the village of Tremont City.
It has barrels the United States Environmental Protection Agency said could threaten residents’ water wells.
But a new ordinance is stopping them from driving those barrels out of the area.
The Tremont City Council meeting was heated Monday night.
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A man was escorted out of the meeting after he and council members argued over the city’s new ordinance.
“You can be the safest trucker in the world you never know when an accident is going to happen. It happens every day,” Tony Flood, council president said.
Accidents are why the village’s mayor Tony Flood II said he passed the ordinance.
“There’s multiple vehicles that have been hit,” Flood said. “We’ve got officers that have actually stopped these trucks at 50 miles an hour, this is a 25 miles an hour zone.”
The ordinance bans commercial tractor-trailers or semis from driving on all streets in the village.
Exceptions to this include garbage trucks, school buses, and emergency vehicles.
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The U.S. EPA wants to use Tremont roads to remove toxic sludge — which would go against the ordinance.
Residents, business owners, and council members said they do not want that waste traveling near their homes.
“No one wants to be the next hazardous material spill,” Mark Sanders, an area business owner said.
Unless an exception is made, the U.S. EPA must find an alternative route.
The agency is working to come up with a plan the village will accept.
Any commercial truck that goes through the city will get a warning from the police.
A spokesperson for the village said so far police have written 17 warnings.
Next month police will start issuing tickets.