Friends, we have great news!! This morning Senator Casey called a press conference and expressed his opposition to the expansion of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill! He said that he was there to be a voice for his constituents who have sent him over 300 letters.

He mentioned over-arching issues such as the health and safety of citizens, consideration of future generations and the opinion that our community has taken its fair share. He questioned the current regulations which do not limit how much one area or one community should have to accept. He mentioned that elected officials are the trustees of the Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment, which provides a constitutional right for people across the Commonwealth to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.

We want to thank Senator Casey for being a voice for the citizens and having the decency and integrity to take a stand on this issue. We hope this will inspire our local and State elected officials to do the same. Thank you, Senator Casey!!

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
Kyle WInd, Staff Writer
March 20, 2015

Excerpt:

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey opposes Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s nearly half-century expansion plan and sees the proposal as more than just a local issue, the senator said during a Friday press conference at his Scranton office.

“In this case you have two communities that have already accepted a substantial share of solid waste, and there has to be some limit to that,” the Democrat said. “I would hope there could be an exploration of other options, other sites.”

Under current state law, there is not necessarily any end to how much waste individual communities like Dunmore and Throop can accept or to how high landfills can pile waste as long as the state Department of Environmental Protection approves an expansion.

That was a concern constituents raised in 175 letters and emails to Mr. Casey’s Scranton office, and at a recent DEP public meeting, where the agency spoke on the topic.

“We do not have regulations that regulate top-end height,” DEP Waste Management Program Director Roger Bellas told 600-plus attendees. “As long as the engineering is sound, it meets the slope standards. That’s how we make our determination. The only height restrictions would be either (local zoning) ordinances or if there were a harm associated with the visual aspect of the height.”

Mr. Casey said he does not have jurisdiction over state regulatory matters and rarely weighs in on local issues, but Keystone’s expansion was important enough to warrant his attention.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/u-s-sen-bob-casey-opposes-landfill-expansion-plan-1.1850947