has been against this expansion since the moment it was proposed. So too is just about every other elected official, from local to state to federal, has been as well. Will this matter to DEP?
“That almost clean sweep across the board should tell DEP everything they need to know about what the citizenry of Northeast Pennsylvania think” - Pat Clark in today's article.
Put simply, these elected officials are speaking on our behalf - in other words, on behalf of the citizens the DEP's mission it is to protect.
https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/.../article_696dd67c...
With a decision looming for Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s proposed expansion, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey once again appealed to state regulators to prevent the landfill from piling trash for the next four decades.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is in the final stage of its review of the landfill in Dunmore and Throop’s Phase III expansion, spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said in an email. The DEP could approve the expansion of the DeNaples-owned landfill by the end of the week, but Connolly does not believe there will be a decision by then, as the DEP is still reviewing the landfill’s plans. The landfill submitted its initial application in 2014. If approved, the landfill would continue to accept waste for 42.4 years until 2064, totaling an additional 94,072,940 tons, according to revised final plans submitted to the DEP in March. That’s the equivalent of about 225,865 Air Force Ones at takeoff for long-range missions, weighing 833,000 pounds each, according to Boeing.
The DEP announced April 30 it had begun its technical review stage of Keystone’s proposed expansion — a process that will ultimately render a decision on whether the landfill can proceed with its controversial expansion. The DEP reviewed Keystone’s plans and sent it a letter Sept. 8 citing dozens of technical deficiencies, asking for clarification, updates and additional information on more than 60 items in the expansion plans.
Keystone responded Nov. 25, initiating a 60-business-day window for the DEP to respond.
That window closes this week.
According to a DEP fact sheet on the landfill, the department has 60 business days to either approve the expansion or issue a pre-denial letter, giving Keystone one more chance to respond. The DEP would then have 30 days to review the response and issue a final decision.
However, Connolly noted the DEP also has the option to ask for more information from Keystone or offer more comments on the landfill’s November response.
Casey cited the impending decision as his rationale for sending the letter to DEP secretary Patrick McDonnell on Thursday.“As the Department of Environmental Protection nears a final decision regarding the expansion of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, I write to reiterate my opposition to this permit application,” he wrote.
It marked the second time in the past year Casey asked the DEP to reject the expansion. In June, he joined officials at the local, state and federal levels in opposing the expansion during a public comment period. Other officials included U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8, Moosic; state Rep. Kyle Mullins, D-112, Blakely; Dunmore Mayor Timothy Burke, Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, members of Dunmore Borough Council, Scranton City Council, the Scranton School Board and the Mid Valley School Board. Outgoing state Sen. John Blake, D-22, Archbald, has previously opposed the expansion.
Attempts to reach landfill officials were unsuccessful Friday.
Renewed concerns
In his letter, Casey raised concerns about two assessments of the expansion. He said he was concerned that an April 2019 health consultation report by the state Department of Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry failed to measure the full health risks of the expansion.
The report was only conducted over three months and did not include continuous monitoring, he said. The 129-page report included analysis of 87 air samples collected intermittently at three locations around the landfill from January to April 2016.Additionally, there were no studies conducted on the expansion’s impact on potential groundwater and soil contamination, Casey said.
Groundwater that could be contaminated isn’t used for public drinking water, according to the report.
While the report did not include testing for soil and groundwater contamination, Connolly said the DEP has over 30 years of data that has been collected from the groundwater monitoring well around the facility. The DEP reviews quarterly groundwater reports from the landfill, she said.
Casey also addressed a statement in the DEP’s July 2019 environmental assessment of the expansion, which determined the benefits “clearly outweigh” the known and potential harms. As part of the assessment, the DEP reported the harms associated with the expansion are already associated with the existing landfill, though the harms would be extended.
“Since 2015, I have been contacted by hundreds of constituents from Lackawanna County, including local officials, school boards and community groups, expressing opposition to the expansion of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill,” Casey wrote. “Many expressed concerns regarding the existing impacts of the landfill, not just environmental risks but also concerns about quality of life and congestion, traffic and vehicle safety risks associated with a major expansion of the landfill.”
Casey pointed to portions of Dunmore that fall under DEP-designated Environmental Justice (EJ) Areas, which are census tracts where 20% or more people live at or below the federal poverty line, and/or 30% or more identify as a nonwhite minority.“The burden of this expansion is likely to fall disproportionately on the surrounding EJ community,” Casey wrote.
Impending decision
Friends of Lackawanna, a grassroots anti-landfill expansion group, is grateful for Casey’s consistent support, group leader Pat Clark said.“Sen. Casey — he was the first politician to come out against this,” Clark said. “He did a press conference in 2015, and he’s still issuing his steadfast and unwavering opposition to this expansion.”
Clark believes the widespread opposition from school boards to elected officials at the federal level shows the opposition of the constituents who elected those officials to voice their concerns.
“That almost clean sweep across the board should tell DEP everything they need to know about what the citizenry of Northeast Pennsylvania think,” Clark said, later adding, “This isn’t a (not-in-my-backyard) argument. We’ve had 40 years of doing this. We’ve done our fair share.”
They will find out the effect of the letters of opposition when the DEP makes its final decision, he said.
“How much impact do these letters have?” Clark asked. “I don’t know. We’ll know that pretty soon.”