Landfills will soon have to test for radium. This is another issue that was helped brought to light by grassroots organizations, independent journalists and other agencies across the state doing the DEP's job.
A step in the right direction? Sure. Enough? Nope. Another reason that massive landfills shouldn't be in the middle of residential communities? Yes.
Sam Maloney, one of the first local residents to bring this to the attention of the State acknowledged this as a "wonderful first step" but the fact that landfills can self report is a huge gap.
Michele Dempsey: "Though testing for radium is a step in the right direction, it doesn't account for how much has already been deposited and made its way into our drinking waterways,"... calling the process of approving the expansion and then implementing radium testing backwards. "Why do the residents of NEPA always seem to be seated last?"
Read the entire article below, link included.
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Wolf: Landfills will soon be required to test for radium
The additional testing aims to protect state waterways and drinking water.
By Frank Wilkes Lesnefsky
Landfills will soon be required to test leachate for radioactive contaminants, Gov. Tom Wolf's administration said Monday.
The state already requires landfills to test their leachate, or the liquid that percolates through garbage piles, for various contaminants before the effluent is treated But beginning later this year, leachate reports will include radium, according to the announcement.
By requiring landfills to measure radium, the state Department of Environmental Protection will be able to evaluate the presence of the radioactive metal in landfills. Specifically, the reports will include radium-226 and radium-228. The added testing is part of an effort to further protect the state's waterways and drinking water, according to the administration.
The DEP identifies contaminants in leachate through reports sent from landfills on a quarterly basis, according to the Wolf administration. Previous DEP studies did not identify significant differences in radium levels between landfills that accept oil and gas waste compared to those that do not, according to the announcement.
Radium occurs at trace levels in virtually all rock, soil, water, plants and animals, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Oil and gas production can concentrate it, according to the agency. Chronic exposure to high levels of radium can result in increased incidence of bone, liver and breast cancer, according to the EPA.
“We take seriously our responsibility and duty as an environmental steward,” Wolf said in a statement. “This additional requirement will improve public confidence that public drinking water and our precious natural resources are being appropriately protected.”
The Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore and Throop uses sophisticated radiation testing when vehicles come into the landfill, and they test their leachate for volatile non-organic compounds, landfill consultant Al Magnotta said. He was unsure if they specifically test for those radioactive isotopes. He said adding the testing could cost some money, but nothing that would be an undue hardship.
The landfill is currently applying for a permit to treat its leachate to a higher degree and discharge it into Little Roaring Brook. As part of their sampling to establish preliminary criteria, they conducted a larger suite of testing, Magnotta said, explaining he believes it included radioactive compounds.
Waste Management spokesman John Hambrose said the Alliance Landfill, located in Taylor and Ransom Twp., test incoming waste for radiation — something he said they have done for more than 20 years.
"Waste Management and the team at Alliance Landfill place a premium on environmental compliance and share the state’s and community’s interest in protecting our waterways and drinking water," Hambrose said in a statement. "At this time, we are still gathering information about the regulation and how it will affect our operations."
As part of the state's announcement, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said his office urged Wolf to direct the DEP to "prevent harmful radioactive materials from entering Pennsylvania waterways."
“Pennsylvanians living next to landfills and in the shadow of fracking wells have a constitutional right to clean air and pure water, and the improved monitoring and promised analysis by DEP is a step in the right direction," Shapiro said.
Shapiro's office confirmed in May that it was investigating the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, though it did not disclose the nature of the investigation. Scranton resident Samantha Maloney, who is one of three locals working with the attorney general's office in its investigation, had explained the investigation appeared to be about leachate. Maloney was especially concerned over radium.
Since May, she has continued to stay in touch with state investigators via email, with their emails focusing on leachate.
She lauded the Wolf administration for acknowledging that radium can get into leachate, which can then get into rivers.
"I bet the people downstream are pretty happy, too," she said.
Maloney called it a "wonderful first step," but said she is still concerned with landfills self reporting their results.
"I'd still like to see self reporting ended," she said.
Michele Dempsey, a core member of Friends of Lackawanna, a grassroots group formed in 2014 in opposition of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill and its expansion, contended Wolf and the DEP should have had radium testing data prior to the approval of the landfill's Phase III expansion last month, which will allow Keystone to bring in an additional 94 million tons of waste over the next four decades.
"Though testing for radium is a step in the right direction, it doesn't account for how much has already been deposited and made its way into our drinking waterways," Dempsey said in a statement, calling the process of approving the expansion and then implementing radium testing backwards. "Why do the residents of NEPA always seem to be seated last?"