Slavic Village residents press city after Harvard landfill is dropped from federal solar grant

Councilman Brian Casey convened a Utilities Committee hearing in Cleveland on December 16 to examine why the Harvard Refuse landfill in Slavic Village was excluded from the city’s subaward under a county-led Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG).

Slavic Village Development planning director Crystal Sierra told the committee that residents have watched the landfill “fester” for years and that the community was owed “an apology and an explanation” after learning the Harvard site would not be included in Cleveland’s work under the grant. Sierra said the organization’s submission to the council included a timeline, recent photos and a history of court-engaged receivership and local complaints about rock piles, open access and broken methane pipes.

The CPRG, described by Cuyahoga County’s Mike Foley, is part of federal clean-energy funding created alongside the Inflation Reduction Act and administered by the EPA. County officials said the coalition’s successful application totals about $129,000,000 and originally included roughly 63 megawatts of landfill-sited solar across several brownfield properties in Cuyahoga County and partner cities. Foley said the county and its partners expected the award to enable solar development, bring sites out of receivership and fund maintenance improvements.

But Cleveland Public Power (CPP) Commissioner Aman…