GREAT NEWS! The state Commonwealth Court ruled that Friends of Lackawanna and six Dunmore residents DO have standing to continue to challenge that the height of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill violates the zoning ordinance!

Judge Zito of the Lackawanna County Commonwealth Court had ruled that the residents and Friends of Lackawanna lacked standing to challenge the decision because they failed to show they would suffer direct, immediate and substantial harm — a necessary element to pursue the case.

However, a three-member panel of the state Commonwealth Court disagreed.

“Rather than constituting mere nuisances or annoyances, these harms have discernible adverse effects on the individual objectors,” the court said. “The proposed expansion would, at the least, continue, if not exacerbate, the present harm.”

FOL is thrilled to now be able to challenge this case on its merits because we have the precedent, the law and the facts on our side. In the attached article, Pat Clark states, “Every time we challenge KSL, they try to use legal standing as a shield to stop us at the gates. Sadly, local courts and boards tend to agree with them,” Clark said. “But each time we get in front of a higher body, first with the Environmental Hearing Board and now with the Commonwealth Court, they confirm that not only do we have standing, but that we clearly do.”