Three elected bodies have now joined in the request to have the Pennsylvania Auditor General review the DEP's process related to landfill permits -- Scranton, Dunmore & Jessup.
We are grateful for these officials sticking up for the residents of NEPA and look forward to the AG's review. As stated in the article, we think that the Auditor General, much like the Environmental Hearing Board and the Grand Jury, will find DEP's processes protect industry at the expense of the people.
Dunmore Councilwoman Janet Brier gets right to the heart of the matter -- “It’s a system that’s set up for the industry versus a little town like ours that doesn’t have a lot of resources,” Brier said. “The system is skewed toward industry, and we’re the people who will suffer because of that.”
Full article below.
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Dunmore requests audit of landfill expansion approval
BY FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY STAFF WRITER
Dunmore, Jessup and Scranton have all requested an audit of the DEP's approval of Keystone Sanitary Landfill's Phase III expansion.
DUNMORE — Leaders of Scranton, Jessup and now Dunmore are pressuring the state auditor general to review the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s approval of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s controversial 40-year expansion application.
Dunmore Borough Council voted 5-0 Monday night to send a letter to Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy DeFoor to request a performance audit of the DEP’s decision to approve the Louis and Dominick DeNaples-owned landfill’s Phase III expansion. Council President Michael Dempsey and Councilwoman Carol Scrimalli were absent.
Dunmore joins Scranton City Council, which voted last month to send a letter requesting the audit, and Jessup Borough Council, which voted last week to do the same.
After a seven-year review process spanning thousands of pages of documentation, plans and reports, the DEP approved a major permit modification for the landfill, located in Dunmore and Throop, on June 3. The approval gives the landfill the capacity to add 188 billion pounds of additional garbage through 2060, tripling its total volume of waste.
DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly declined to comment on Dunmore’s request Monday night.
Should DeFoor decide to audit the DEP’s process, his department will be the third state agency looking into the landfill or its expansion. In May, the state attorney general’s office confirmed it is investigating the landfill, though the office declined to provide the nature of the investigation.
Last week, Friends of Lackawanna, a grassroots group formed in 2014 in opposition to the landfill and its expansion, appealed the decision to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, asking it to revoke the landfill’s expansion approval.
Pat Clark, a leader of Friends of Lackawanna, said in a statement they are grateful for the elected bodies willing to stand up for area residents by requesting that the auditor general place the DEP’s processes under a microscope.
“We expect that the auditor general will find that the DEP’s approach comes up well short of its mandate when the light is shined on them,” he said.
Friends of Lackawanna recruited Jessup after having been in contact with Citizens for a Healthy Jessup since its dispute over Invenergy’s Lackawanna Energy Center, Clark said, explaining the Jessup group always asked them how they could help. According to its Facebook page, the Jessup group describes itself as supporting the pursuit of personal, environmental, social and economic health of Jessup residents and the surrounding area.
Jessup Councilwoman Rella Scassellati, who is also vice president of Citizens for a Healthy Jessup, said borough council unanimously voted to send the letter last week. Although she was optimistic that the letters will put the auditor general in a position to perform the audit, she was less optimistic about the outcome.
“Do I think it’ll make a difference?” she asked. “I wish I could say yes, but I just don’t have the faith I used to have.”
Dunmore Mayor Timothy Burke, who also signed the audit request, said it’s something borough officials previously discussed, and he’s glad the borough is requesting the audit.
“I think (DEP) chose money over people’s health, and that’s it,” Burke said.
Councilwoman Janet Brier lauded Scranton for taking the lead in seeking the audit as the largest municipality in the county.
“It’s a system that’s set up for the industry versus a little town like ours that doesn’t have a lot of resources,” Brier said. “The system is skewed toward industry, and we’re the people who will suffer because of that.”
Attorney Jeffrey Belardi, who represents the landfill, attended the meeting. Council’s vote “wasn’t unexpected,” he said. Belardi defended the DEP and questioned why Scranton requested the audit. He called it preposterous for people to insinuate the DEP doesn’t do its job.
“I think it’s unfair to DEP,” he said.
Reached after the meeting, Scranton City Council President Bill Gaughan said he believes the joint requests give Scranton’s letter more weight.
“It is just a disgrace that the DEP gave the landfill the ability to expand for 40 more years,” Gaughan said. “We, and I think I speak for a lot of people in Scranton, Dunmore and in Lackawanna County, we do not want to see that landfill expand. It is not in the best interest of the people of our area.”
Gaughan explained city council’s rationale in requesting the audit, noting that thousands of people have spoken out against it.
“Well, apparently Mr. Belardi doesn’t understand the opposition from this, and he doesn’t live next to the landfill or near the landfill,” Gaughan said. “He doesn’t apparently smell the landfill, and he doesn’t understand the harms that come from the landfill.”