Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
Brendan Gibbons, Staff Reporter
February 27, 2015

Next steps are outlined by Brendan Gibbons in today’s Times-Tribune:

Less than a year remains in state Department of Environmental Protection’s review of Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s plan to expand.

The DEP held a packed community meeting at Dunmore High School on Wednesday where residents asked DEP staff, Keystone consultant Albert Magnotta and owner Louis DeNaples a wide range of questions.

The DEP is in its first 120-day review of the landfill’s application in which officials examine it for its overall environmental impact, along with its harms-versus-benefits analysis.

The first public comment period, which opened Jan. 3, extends until Thursday.

In the coming weeks, the DEP will hold a public hearing exclusively to take testimony from residents, unlike Wednesday’s question-and-answer session. The date has not been announced.

The DEP will follow with two more environmental assessments, then a technical review. DEP officials expect to make their final decision in January 2016.

Meanwhile, anti-landfill group Friends of Lackawanna’s appeal moves forward regarding the Dunmore’s zoning officer’s decision on the landfill’s height. Dunmore’s zoning hearing board scheduled hearings at 6:30 p.m. March 19, March 26 and April 2 at the Dunmore Community Center.

The appeal centers on whether Dunmore’s zoning code can restrict the landfill’s height.

— BRENDAN GIBBONS

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/next-steps-after-dep-landfill-meeting-1.1840380