Despite a clear history of not being able to handle its leachate, numerous leachate violations that we know of and countless that likely were not reported by this “self-monitoring” landfill, Keystone is asking the DEP and the public to trust them to treat extremely toxic leachate correctly and discharge directly into waterways that pass by schools and ultimately end up as part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed—drinking water for millions.
It’s a beyond preposterous request that shouldn’t be entertained, yet the DEP has time after time proven its loyalty to the landfill (with whom it’s complicit in keeping information from the public) and confirmed its captured agency status by acting in the best interest of this private company rather than the people they are sworn to protect.
https://m.thetimes-tribune.com/.../keystone-landfill...
Keystone Landfill seeks alternative leachate disposal method
SCRANTON — Keystone Sanitary Landfill plans an alternative leachate treatment method to discharge directly into two nearby waterways and spray on landfill dirt roads to keep dust down, a spokesman said Saturday.
The landfill straddling Dunmore and Throop currently pretreats its leachate — the garbage juice that percolates through the trash piles — and pipes the effluent into the sewer system purchased three years ago by Pennsylvania American Water from the Scranton Sewer Authority.
The landfill’s existing leachate treatment method pretreats the liquid to a level equivalent to household wastewaster, Keystone spokesman Al Magnotta said.
The wastewater of the Scranton-Dunmore sewer system flows to the PAW treatment plant in South Scranton, where it is treated and the resulting effluent discharged into the Lackawanna River.
Now, the landfill seeks state approval to add an alternative method of leachate treatment, he said. The reverse osmosis method represents a higher level of treatment that would allow for discharging effluent into Eddy Creek along Marshwood Road, and into Little Roaring Brook near Dunham Drive, Magnotta said.
“To go to a direct discharge to a stream is a whole new world,” Magnotta said of the higher level of treatment.
Eddy Creek winds through Throop and flows into the Lackawanna River near Route 347.
Little Roaring Brook flows a short distance into Roaring Brook, which then meanders through parts of Dunmore and Scranton and empties into the Lackawanna River behind South Side Bowl.
Proper treatment of leachate is an essential landfill requirement, and Keystone plans the additional treatment option — a $5 million project — for several reasons, Magnotta said.
The additional method would reduce landfill costs of treating and pumping leachate to the PAW sewer system, he said. The landfill also would curb costs of water drawn and bought from the water company for dust control, by filling truck tankers with the higher-level treated effluent and using it instead for dust control, he said.
“It provides us a lot of flexibility and redundancy in our system to make sure we’re operating properly,” Magnotta said. “We’ll achieve a higher level of treatment and we’ll save some money.”
The leachate plan comes as the landfill’s proposal for a nearly 50-year, massive expansion remains under review by the DEP and staunchly opposed by civic group Friends of Lackawanna. A zoning dispute between KSL and the civic group regarding landfill height and structure also remains pending in state Commonwealth Court.
Magnotta said the extra method of leachate treatment does not stem from the expansion plan. Even without expansion, the landfill still would have at least 30 years of post-closure leachate treatment, he said. Century-old segments of the PAW sewer system, if they ever were to collapse, represent a potential threat of forced closure to the landfill, if it were to have only one treatment option dependent on the PAW sewer system, he said.
“We have to think long term,” Magnotta said.
While the existing leachate treatment system has approval from DEP’s solid waste division, the alternative method needs approval from DEP’s water quality bureau, he said.
Keystone will soon have public notices published in The Times-Tribune indicating the landfill will submit to DEP a water quality management permit application seeking a major modification in leachate management and permits to discharge into Eddy Creek and Little Roaring Brook.
Pat Clark, a core member of Friends of Lackawanna, was not aware of the landfill’s plan for an additional leachate option but expressed skepticism.
“The landfill has not earned the benefit of doubt from me and the (Friends’) organization as a whole when it comes to modifications,” Clark said. “My overall takeaway is it’s not (being done by) choice. They probably have to do this for some reason we’re not privy to.”
Contact the writer:
jlockwood@timesshamrock.com