TIFFIN — Once again, Seneca County Commissioners have shown exactly where their priorities lie — and it’s not with the people, farms, or future of this county.

On Tuesday, the commissioners unanimously backed a so-called “Rail Safety Grant” application from Lake Erie West (WIN Waste) that’s being sold to the public as some noble safety improvement. Don’t buy it. This is a thinly veiled attempt to expand rail infrastructure at the Sunny Farm Landfill so they can park 60 additional train cars full of out-of-state trash.

They’re calling it “rail safety.” Really? That’s an insult to the intelligence of every resident in Seneca County.

Safety for Who?

According to the article in the Advertiser-Tribune, the grant would fund repairs to rail crossings, a new processing facility, employee safety upgrades, and — conveniently — the extension of a rail spur near Township Road 108. This would let them add a third bay to handle even more waste volume while they demolish the old facility and expand operations.

Sandy Spang and the WIN Waste team presented this to the commissioners with a straight face, talking about OSHA compliance, ventilation, and “community benefits.” The commissioners ate it up and gave their unanimous support.

Let’s call this what it is: a taxpayer-subsidized expansion of a landfill that already imports massive amounts of garbage from outside Ohio. More rail capacity doesn’t mean safer crossings for local drivers — it means more trains, more diesel engines rumbling through our rural communities, more risk of spills or accidents, and more garbage piling up on what used to be productive farm land.

Where’s the Respect, Commissioners?

Particularly disappointing is the support from Commissioner Bill Frankart. I used to have respect for you, Bill. Many people in this county did. This move makes it hard to maintain that.

Instead of standing up for Seneca County residents who don’t want their backyard turned into a regional trash hub, the commissioners are helping WIN Waste dress up a major operational expansion as “safety.” They’re chasing federal dollars while selling out local quality of life.

This isn’t rail safety. This is rail capacity for profit — profit that flows to a company bringing in trash from who-knows-where while local taxpayers and landowners deal with the dust, traffic, odors, and long-term environmental consequences.

Enough Is Enough

Seneca County doesn’t need more rail spurs for out-of-state garbage. We need commissioners who will actually protect our farmland, our water, our roads, and our communities from being sacrificed for someone else’s waste disposal business model.

If this grant is truly just about “safety,” why does it conveniently include infrastructure that allows 60 more rail cars of trash? Why the rush to expand the facility’s capacity before the old one is even fully demolished?

The public deserves transparency, not marketing spin. “Rail Safety Grant” sounds nice in a press release. It sounds a lot less nice when those rails are delivering another load of someone else’s garbage right through our county.

Seneca County Commissioners: Do better. Represent the people who actually live here — not the out-of-county waste haulers looking for cheap expansion.

We’ll be watching how this grant progresses. And residents should make their voices heard before another acre of Ohio soil is turned into a permanent dump for everyone else’s trash.