SCRANTON TIMES OP-ED:
SCRANTON TIMES OP-ED:
FRIENDS OF LACKAWANNA READY TO ARGUE THEIR APPEAL OF LANDFILL EXPANSION TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEARING BOARD
Actively engaged citizens have a long, commendable history of heading off environmental disasters before calamity. Clair Patterson, a geochemist, knew that the lead in gasoline was harming people. Corporate-funded studies dismissed him. He was correct. We now use unleaded gas, and his work resulted in Clean Air Act amendments.
Lois Gibbs demanded her community, Love Canal in New York, be cleaned up since the town was built on top of a toxic waste dump. She was belittled by officials as a 'hysterical housewife.' She was correct. Ultimately, over 800 families were relocated, and the Superfund program was created to clean up hazardous waste sites.
Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, warned of the dangers of pesticide use on wildlife and humans. The chemical industry launched a campaign to discredit her. She was correct. Her work led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Following in their footsteps, Friends of Lackawanna (“FOL”), a grassroots organization, was founded in 2014 after reviewing the Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s expansion application. The application sought permission to triple in size and add over 100 million tons of mostly out-of-state trash to an already oversized pile that casts its shadow over the region.
Like Patterson, Gibbs, and Carson, FOL began to speak up. We knew this expansion would irretrievably harm our reputation, air, water, and future, so we organized and mobilized.
For the past nine years, we have met with anyone willing to listen. Borough Councils, Zoning Boards, School Boards, State Representatives, Congressmen, Senators, and Governors have all heard our concerns. We've hosted conferences, conducted presentations for Environmental Justice bodies, held town halls, and canvassed neighborhoods. From Dunmore to D.C., we've shared our findings and received nearly unanimous support, with one egregious exception – the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the very agency that has the duty to protect and preserve the air, water, and environment of the Commonwealth.
In 2021, the DEP approved the Landfill’s expansion and gave the dump the 40+ year permit it sought. But there is one body that can unwind the DEP’s decision: the Environmental Hearing Board (“EHB”). It's a quasi-judicial body in Pennsylvania designed to hear appeals of DEP decisions.
We first presented to the EHB in 2017, challenging the Landfill’s operating permit. At that time, the EHB found that there was not enough evidence to shut the Landfill down. But it did issue two key findings. First, that DEP has not “consistently exercised vigorous oversight of the landfill consistent with its regulatory and constitutional responsibilities…” Second, that DEP “relied almost entirely on recorded violations, yet the department almost never records any violations at Keystone, even if they undeniably occurred.”
The EHB gave us our game plan: create the file, fill the file, and show the EHB why this expansion must not be allowed to proceed. We knew what we needed to do.
Now, the previously invisible file overflows. The State confirmed ongoing groundwater contamination at the landfill for over 15 years. The Landfill has been cited for the improper storage and leaking of leachate. A health study found toxic chemicals in ambient air testing, which adversely impact our most sensitive populations - children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with respiratory problems. The Landfill was found to be improperly dumping leachate into the sewer system. Studies have found higher levels of radioactive materials in waterways near landfills that accept fracking waste, such as Keystone. After a decade of complaints, DEP finally cited the facility with formal odor violations.
In addition to these findings, Pennsylvania has doubled down on its belief in, and enforcement of, the State Constitution's Environmental Rights Amendment that guarantees all citizens “the right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and aesthetic values of the environment… for the benefit of all the people.” Governor Shapiro and DEP Secretary Negrin have issued statements committing to preserve those rights within the past month.
FOL’s appeal of the expansion with the EHB will likely be held later this year. We have continued to fight to protect our community’s health and future, and we believe we have proved our case. We have the reports, the data, the documented violations, and the support of both experts and elected representatives. We have built the file.
The DEP may have failed the residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania throughout this process by extending its decades-long love affair with a money-making mountain of trash. But the EHB can now step in, right this wrong and can give real validity to the State’s Constitutional mandate. Not only would that give us a shot at a better future, but it would set a precedent that could help protect countless citizens from environmental harm. That’s worth the fight.
Actively engaged citizens have a long, commendable history of heading off environmental disasters before calamity. Clair Patterson, a geochemist, knew that the lead in gasoline was harming people. Corporate-funded studies dismissed him. He was correct. We now use unleaded gas, and his work resulted in Clean Air Act amendments.
Lois Gibbs demanded her community, Love Canal in New York, be cleaned up since the town was built on top of a toxic waste dump. She was belittled by officials as a 'hysterical housewife.' She was correct. Ultimately, over 800 families were relocated, and the Superfund program was created to clean up hazardous waste sites.
Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, warned of the dangers of pesticide use on wildlife and humans. The chemical industry launched a campaign to discredit her. She was correct. Her work led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Following in their footsteps, Friends of Lackawanna (“FOL”), a grassroots organization, was founded in 2014 after reviewing the Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s expansion application. The application sought permission to triple in size and add over 100 million tons of mostly out-of-state trash to an already oversized pile that casts its shadow over the region.
Like Patterson, Gibbs, and Carson, FOL began to speak up. We knew this expansion would irretrievably harm our reputation, air, water, and future, so we organized and mobilized.
For the past nine years, we have met with anyone willing to listen. Borough Councils, Zoning Boards, School Boards, State Representatives, Congressmen, Senators, and Governors have all heard our concerns. We've hosted conferences, conducted presentations for Environmental Justice bodies, held town halls, and canvassed neighborhoods. From Dunmore to D.C., we've shared our findings and received nearly unanimous support, with one egregious exception – the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the very agency that has the duty to protect and preserve the air, water, and environment of the Commonwealth.
In 2021, the DEP approved the Landfill’s expansion and gave the dump the 40+ year permit it sought. But there is one body that can unwind the DEP’s decision: the Environmental Hearing Board (“EHB”). It's a quasi-judicial body in Pennsylvania designed to hear appeals of DEP decisions.
We first presented to the EHB in 2017, challenging the Landfill’s operating permit. At that time, the EHB found that there was not enough evidence to shut the Landfill down. But it did issue two key findings. First, that DEP has not “consistently exercised vigorous oversight of the landfill consistent with its regulatory and constitutional responsibilities…” Second, that DEP “relied almost entirely on recorded violations, yet the department almost never records any violations at Keystone, even if they undeniably occurred.”
The EHB gave us our game plan: create the file, fill the file, and show the EHB why this expansion must not be allowed to proceed. We knew what we needed to do.
Now, the previously invisible file overflows. The State confirmed ongoing groundwater contamination at the landfill for over 15 years. The Landfill has been cited for the improper storage and leaking of leachate. A health study found toxic chemicals in ambient air testing, which adversely impact our most sensitive populations - children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with respiratory problems. The Landfill was found to be improperly dumping leachate into the sewer system. Studies have found higher levels of radioactive materials in waterways near landfills that accept fracking waste, such as Keystone. After a decade of complaints, DEP finally cited the facility with formal odor violations.
In addition to these findings, Pennsylvania has doubled down on its belief in, and enforcement of, the State Constitution's Environmental Rights Amendment that guarantees all citizens “the right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and aesthetic values of the environment… for the benefit of all the people.” Governor Shapiro and DEP Secretary Negrin have issued statements committing to preserve those rights within the past month.
FOL’s appeal of the expansion with the EHB will likely be held later this year. We have continued to fight to protect our community’s health and future, and we believe we have proved our case. We have the reports, the data, the documented violations, and the support of both experts and elected representatives. We have built the file.
The DEP may have failed the residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania throughout this process by extending its decades-long love affair with a money-making mountain of trash. But the EHB can now step in, right this wrong and can give real validity to the State’s Constitutional mandate. Not only would that give us a shot at a better future, but it would set a precedent that could help protect countless citizens from environmental harm. That’s worth the fight.