DEP moves into final phase of reviews for landfill expansion

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FYI: The DEP is now in the Technical Review phase of Keystone's expansion evaluation.

From the story: "According to the timetable, the expansion will last 42.4 years, bringing in 94,072,940 tons of waste, or 188 billion pounds — the equivalent of nearly 258 Empire State Buildings."

NOTE TO DEP: You can't build 258 Empire State Buildings on top of a foundation originally designed to support your back deck. It's going to end badly for everyone.

https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/.../dep-moves-into-final...

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DEP moves into final phase of reviews for landfill expansion

BY FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: MAY 1, 2020

The state Department of Environmental Protection is moving into its final phase of reviews before it decides whether to approve Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s proposed 42-year expansion plan.

The DEP announced Thursday that it began its technical review phase of the landfill’s proposed Phase III expansion earlier this month. The review includes a 60-day window for public comment that begins today and closes June 30 at 4 p.m., DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said in an email.

Keystone sent revised plans and supplemental information to the DEP last month after the department requested additional information as part of an environmental assessment in July that weighed the harms and benefits of the expansion. The DEP determined the benefits “clearly outweigh” the known and potential harms, according to the assessment. Both the assessment and technical review are part of the overall review of the landfill’s March 2014 application for expansion, Connolly said.

At the conclusion of the assessment, the DEP asked for more information on seven items, including the complete design of the facility with detailed drawings of development stages that link the work to a timetable.

According to the timetable, the expansion will last 42.4 years, bringing in 94,072,940 tons of waste, or 188 billion pounds — the equivalent of nearly 258 Empire State Buildings.

The landfill would continue operations until 2064. The closure would include planting grass and other vegetation and offering the land to Throop and Dunmore boroughs as a greenspace buffer between the Casey Highway and the towns, according to supplemental information Keystone submitted to the DEP.

“Ultimate land use would be either a municipal recreational and/or bank for endangered vegetation,” according to Keystone.

The DEP will spend 90 days reviewing features of Keystone’s expansion plan, including the proposed liner and leachate systems, gas management, slope stability and plans for mine subsidence, according to the DEP. It will then send a letter to Keystone with a time frame to respond.

The time frame depends on what information the department is looking for, but deficiency letters typically have a limit of 60 business days, Connolly said.

After receiving a response from the landfill, the DEP will have 60 days for a second review, where it can either approve the expansion or send the landfill a pre-denial letter, giving Keystone a final chance to respond.

The DEP would then have a final technical review and issue a decision within 30 days of Keystone’s response, according to the department.

Pat Clark, a leader of anti-landfill expansion grassroots group Friends of Lackawanna, said the group is still reviewing the new information.

“But, as we have been doing since 2014, we will read through everything submitted. And we will submit comments,” he said in an email.

The public can mail written comments to Roger Bellas, waste management program manager, DEP Northeast Regional Office, 2 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701, or email him at rbellas@pa.gov.