"Character is what you do when no one is watching." -Unknown

Two articles in the Times-Tribune from Saturday, 7/18, and Sunday 7/19, show that the owners of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill don't seem to play by the rules if no one is watching or if whomever is watching turns a blind eye. In 1987, they ignored repeated warnings that the landfill capacity was exhausted and that the landfill's condition threatened to contaminate area groundwater. They responded by sharply increasing dumping of municipal waste and our groundwater has been contaminated for at least 12 years. Now Lake Scranton, our main supply of drinking water, could be contaminated by a gas drilling trucking site upstream that violates zoning and the Lackawanna River has already been polluted by thousands of gallons of oil from a tank that wasn't registered with the state above ground storage tank program.

We are asked to believe that everything is "state-of-the-art" at KSL. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." -Chinese Proverb

http://thetimes-tribune.com/…/roaring-brook-twp-ousts-denap…

http://thetimes-tribune.com/…/steam-heat-plant-smokestack-c…

From 1987:
http://articles.mcall.com/…/2580519_1_keystone-landfill-key…

50 years is a long time for just about anything but especially so for a landfill operation in the middle of communities. The Scranton Times Editorial Board correctly points out the absurdity in allowing a 50 year proposal and calls for limits on applications. They are correct - the current structure is bad policy

Richard Ready is quoted in today's Wall Street Journal. He says high-volume landfills (equaling or exceeding 500 tons of waste a day) drop adjacent property values by 13.7% on average, with that pricing impact decreasing by 5.9% a mile. Keystone Sanitary Landfill accepts 7,250 TONS OF WASTE PER DAY, putting us squarely in the high-volume column.

FOL contacted Dr. Ready and he wrote a letter for us that we submitted with our Harms-Benefits Analysis to the DEP stating, "My analysis estimated that 99.8% of large landfills have a negative impact on nearby residential property values."

We cannot permit this landfill to continue to destroy the value of our greatest investments, our homes, that we have worked so hard to own. What is that cost to you? ‪#‎Don‬'tDumpOurFuture

The Times-Tribune Editorial Board points out that the potential addition of more toxins to the landfill in the form of flowback sand adds to a lengthy list of objections justifying opposition to the expansion. Many thanks to the Editorial Board for continuing to shed light on these matters of profound concern.

Excerpt:
The more revelations that surface during Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s effort to win state approval for a massive expansion, the more troubling the scenario becomes.

The landfill has state approval to dispose of sand that is used in the underground natural gas-drilling process and washes back to the surface during hydraulic fracturing extraction. The disclosure was publicized by Friends of Lackawanna, a citizens group opposed to the dump expansion, following a recent state Department of Environmental Protection meeting regarding Keystone’s desire to move skyward by 165 vertical feet over more than four decades.

Robert Dougherty wonders if those involved with KSL and our political leaders will find religion around the matter of the landfill and get in line with the Pope.

Pope and landfill

Editor: In reading Pope Francis’s encyclical on climate, he challenges the world to clean up its filth. I feel he meant to clean up the material filth, which is destroying the Earth, not the moral filth, which also is destroying the Earth.

This makes me wonder about our political leaders and those involved in the Keystone Sanitary Landfill proposed expansion. Maybe they think that the next generation will take care of this problem, or are they just not of sound mind?

ROBERT D. DOUGHERTY

WAYMART

Friends of Lackawanna was not aware that KSL is permitted to accept fracking sand before last week and we are very concerned about the fact that they can and, therefore, will accept it at some point in the future. Not only has OSHA issued a hazard alert to workers at fracking sites due to the dangers of breathing silica dust from the sand, which can cause cancer and silicosis, but the fracking sand also has radioactive material in it and is usually shipped to landfills qualified to handle low-level radioactive waste. It makes no sense to continue to subject our community to municipal solid waste let alone the grave risks from fracking waste--such as fracking sand, drill cuttings and sludge--especially when so little is known about their long term health effects. We should not be the guinea pigs.

Excerpts:
Drillers pump water, additives and sand into the Marcellus Shale to extract natural gas. The sand holds underground voids open, but some of it escapes with the water and must be disposed of.

Sam Bernhardt, an organizer with the national nonprofit Food & Water Watch, which advocates for a ban on fracking, expressed some skepticism about a mantra he called “the solution is dilution” and worried materials that come in small concentrations could add up over time as part of a consistent waste stream.

Roger Bellas, DEP’s regional waste management program director, said flow-back sand is a bigger deal than the drill cuttings Keystone already accepts, but he noted the agency does not classify it as hazardous waste. Instead, it is considered residual waste, the same category as the drill cuttings.

The Times-Tribune Editorial Board firmly points out the incompetence and weak leadership of Dunmore Council for hiding behind attorney-client priviledge...when they represent us!!

Excerpt:
Four members of weak-kneed Dunmore Borough Council claim that they have legislated themselves into permanent silence about one of the most important matters facing the borough and the rest of Northeast Pennsylvania.

If they actually have done so, it would be an act of such grotesque incompetence that they all should resign in embarrassment.

But the politicians’ reticence more likely is a desperate attempt by ostriches to use any available sand. Some council members have made noise about standing up against expansion of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill. But most of them, with the exception of Timothy Burke, actually haven’t done so because the landfill is owned by politically and financially influential Dunmore businessman Louis DeNaples, and because they have tied the borough’s future to that of a garbage dump.

Big decisions ahead. Please plan on attending the Public Hearing. We will let you know as soon as there is a date.

Excerpts:
A state regulator’s environmental assessment of Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s controversial expansion plan is nearing the finish line.

The state Department of Environmental Protection’s waste management program staff are on track to issue a review letter with a preliminary conclusion around the end of this month, agency spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said Thursday.

DEP typically gives applicants between 30 and 60 days to respond, depending on the number of issues the agency raises, and if necessary, the response would trigger an approximately 75-day second review — although the timeline could still be adjusted if needed.

“We will be as thorough as possible and take as much time as we need to make this decision,” Ms. Connolly said.

DEP will schedule a public hearing during the second part of the review, during which area residents can provide testimony for the agency to consider. The previous two public meetings earlier this year were designed more to answer people’s questions.

At last month’s meeting, regional waste management program manager Roger Bellas told the public the agency has been looking into concerns raised at the prior meeting in February.

Topics included leachate treatment and conveyance lines to Scranton Sewer Authority, storm water discharge to Eddy Creek, air quality, odors and questions about Marcellus Shale waste disposal.

Thanks, as always, to Tim Burke for being our voice.

Excerpts:
A week after Dunmore Borough Council missed a deadline to weigh in on Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s nearly half-century expansion plan, four councilmen among a five-member majority who claimed to oppose the proposal are not talking about it.

The quintet first publicly said they opposed the controversial plan when members of anti-expansion grass-roots group Friends of Lackawanna packed council meetings last fall and questioned borough lawmakers about their positions on the controversial plan.

Councilman Timothy Burke, who individually sent state regulators a letter opposing the plan several months ago, said he proposed a special meeting to vote on sending a collective letter as borough representatives before the deadline for the state Department of Environmental Protection’s environmental assessment.

But the rest of council did not express any interest in meeting, he said.

Cream of Leachate--could be a new delicacy, Bob Quell. How much to eat a bowl?

Landfill tour fare

Editor: Recently, Keystone Sanitary Landfill held an open house and offered bus tours to hundreds of area residents to see its day-to-day operation.

Afterward, the visitors were treated to hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream. I can’t think of any activity that gets the digestive juice flowing more than taking in the sights, sounds and unique aromas of the local landfill.

I have an additional menu suggestion, should there be future landfill tours. Since there is plenty of this byproduct to be had, how about hearty bowls of cream of leachate soup?

BOB QUELL

SCRANTONv

Paul Schubert points out the absurdity of saying a 425' high mound of garbage would not have an obtrusive, negative impact on our area's vistas in this Letter to the Editor. Well said, Paul!

21-story dump

Editor: I am amazed that someone supporting the expansion of Keystone Sanitary Landfill would have the audacity to claim that a 425-foot mound would not be obtrusive.

If you imagine the common use of 20 feet per story — which is a conservative estimate — 425 feet would convert to 21 stories. I doubt there are many 21-story buildings in Scranton, for example.

There also would be a width dimension to the landfill and that area would also be very large and unsightly.

PAUL SCHUBERT

DALTON

Jim Kelly asks where the garbage will go if KSL closes in this Letter to the Editor. If you know Jim, please invite him to like our page because this question has been asked and answered many times. Alliance landfill has enough permitted space to handle our local garbage for 38 years.

We are also working hard to encourage PA to change the regulations to provide incentives for reuse and recycling to continue to reduce the waste stream to landfills, as well as looking into better technologies than stacking our garbage on top of plastic liners and covering it with grass.

Excerpt:
I didn’t and still don’t have a ready answer as to where our garbage would go, only that we would rely on hauling vendors to solve this problem. From my point of view, for those who oppose the landfill expansion, I have yet to hear or read, thus far, what alternatives would be put forth by opponents of Keystone’s proposal. This could change my opinion or attitude on this issue completely, if viable alternatives are lacking or nonexistent.

JIM KELLY

GOULDSBORO

Robert Rembecki questions the lack of investigative reporting by WNEP and WBRE investigative news teams regarding the KSL landfill expansion in this well-stated Letter to the Editor.

Dead air on dump

Editor: After viewing television commercials for WNEP and WBRE promoting their hard-hitting investigative news teams, I find it incomprehensible that neither station has televised an investigative segment on the proposed landfill expansion issue. Placed against a grass-roots movement of “common folk” who have galvanized a community for a righteous cause against one of the most influential men in the state, it is an embarrassment to those news organizations.

Perhaps WNEP and WBRE can archive old segments from Mike Wallace’s “60 Minutes” exposés to find out how it’s done.

Is an event that is likely to have an impact on our area for generations not worthy of a thorough, fair and balanced investigative segment?

ROBERT G. REMBECKI

SOUTH ABINGTON TWP.

Well said, Leo Murray!

Fight for future

Editor: There seems to be a misconception that the grass-roots organization Friends of Lackawanna is bucking one of the area’s richest families in a fight for today.

The reality is, the group is fighting for the generations that will come after us.

Approval of the proposed Keystone Sanitary Landfill expansion would be a death knell for the region’s growth far into the future. The dump’s owners stand to make billions of dollars over the life of the proposed expansion of the landfill as it goes skyward.

However, that mountain of garbage would cast a long shadow over several hundred thousand square feet of now-empty space in the Keystone Industrial Park in Dunmore and Throop.

What chief executive in his right mind would bring badly needed jobs to the industrial park with a mountain of garbage soaring over and stinking up the area? None.

One would think that the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce would have recognized this and taken a stand on this issue, but it did not. Over the years, the chamber has become somewhat impotent when it comes to attracting employers who would bring decent jobs to this once-great area.

LEO A. MURRAY

DUNMORE

Friends of Lackawanna attended the DEP Public Meeting for IESI Landfill in Bethlehem, which has just applied for an expansion, to let that community know that we have met with Governor Wolf and will need their support to change the antiquated, irresponsible regulations. They have so many of the same concerns for their community that we have for ours including height, impact of property values, fear of disaster (they also have two landfills in close proximity and the other one experienced a landslide 3 years ago that still has a road blocked off), as well as impact on health and the environment. We all have to write/call our State legislators to let them know we need a moratorium on landfill expansions so that forward-looking and modern regulations can be put in place and Pennsylvania can lead by example!

Here is a re-post of FOL core member Pat Clark's excellent editorial regarding the regulations:

Closing arguments for the zoning appeal will be August 6th. The black letter reading of the zoning ordinance dictates the height of structures. We are not surprised that an expert being paid by KSL disagrees (even though when asked he said he didn't know how much he was being paid or what his hourly rate is--apparently, only his secretary knows).

Excerpt:
Mr. Yeager also again contended the zoning board was not giving Friends of Lackawanna’s challenge a fair shake, this time because the board accepted Mr. Zadlo as an expert witness.

The zoning board in March rejected Mr. Yeager’s expert witness J. Lawrence Hosmer, a 43-year civil/geotechnical engineer specializing in waste management, because of his lack of specific knowledge about Dunmore and Keystone.

Mr. Yeager said at the time he sought general testimony about what goes into engineering and constructing landfills, and he argued on Thursday Mr. Zadlo should not have been allowed to testify about broader matters than Dunmore as a result.

“The double standard that this reflects and that this testimony is all aimed at supporting is a further reflection of our denial of a fair process,” Mr. Yeager said.

Nothing about the after hours open house at KSL changes the threats to our health and safety, property values, regional reputation and the environment of this egregious landfill expansion in the middle of our community.

Excerpts:
A series of yellow school buses shuttled groups of area residents through Keystone Sanitary Landfill on Tuesday, running past two inactive, grass-covered waste-disposal areas and an excavated site ready to receive garbage.

Tour groups visited the Dunmore and Throop facility’s wastewater treatment plant, methane recycling operation and drill-cutting processing area before returning to tents to eat hot dogs, hamburgers and ice cream, talk with landfill officials and consultants, or participate in raffles.

Michele Dempsey and Pat Clark, two leaders in the anti-expansion grass-roots group Friends of Lackawanna, visited the operation and spoke with Keystone President Louis DeNaples, who greeted many people who came to the open house.

The pair did not go on a tour but planned to return for a private visit, Mr. Clark said. He maintained the expansion would be too great a burden for the community to bear over the decades.

Friends, please contact the Dunmore Council members or come to the council meetings and encourage them to send a letter to the DEP opposing the expansion. Thank you!

Excerpts:
Borough council on Monday again declined to send state regulators a formal communication opposing Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s controversial expansion plan, meaning representatives will almost surely miss the public comment deadline.

Despite that, DEP would still be willing to accept feedback on the nearly half-century expansion plan from Dunmore council, agency spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said before council met Monday.

“We would consider any new information right up until we make our final environmental assessment decision,” Ms. Connolly said.

On Monday, Mr. Burke said attorney Bill Jones still had not provided an answer [regarding whether sending DEP a letter opposing the plan could result in any legal consequences that would hurt the borough] .

Pat Clark, a leader in the anti-expansion grassroots group Friends of Lackawanna, expressed frustration council still was not prepared to weigh in.

Mr. Burke said he was disappointed by the result but was pleased to learn DEP would still accept council’s feedback later.

Lackawanna County takes in 10.6% of the state's garbage, but takes in MORE trash per capita than any other county.  For every resident in Lackawanna County, 10.7 tons of trash was dumped in our local landfills last year. That's 21,400 POUNDS of garbage for you, 21,400 lbs for me,  21,400 lbs for your neighbor, 21,400 lbs  for your child... and  the list goes on and on.  Comparatively, for the other top 4 counties in the state who accept waste, it ranges from 2.1 to 6.4 tons per person.  

The real travesty is that a county of 211,000 residents, many of whom are of a lower economic demographic, many of whom are elderly and already dealing with the scars of the mining industry, are also the recipients of the most trash per person in the state. When will enough be enough?

We should be encouraged by the fight of the Tullytown, PA and Florence, NJ residents. They took on the number two largest landfill in the state and won. I have no hesitation that Friends of Lackawanna can do the same with Keystone Sanitary Landfill. Our fight has just begun. Join us!  Let's stand united in our message - Don't Dump On Out Future! 

For more information on Lackawanna County's trash intake, check out today's article in the Sunday Times. For more information on the Tullytown, PA landfill closure and fight, check out Citizens Against The Smell of Tullytown. 

The Times-Tribune Editorial Board credits the strength of our efforts for effecting the outcome of recent elections. So much thanks goes out to all of you. Together, we continue to make a difference!

By trying to evade the most serious issue facing Lackawanna County’s future, Commissioner Jim Wansacz sacrificed his own immediate political future — a stunning development in a county where the status quo and complacency often win.

The political strength of the anti-dump movement also was evident in Dunmore. Vincent Amico, a largely unknown political newcomer who actively opposes the expansion, finished first by a wide margin in the race for four Democratic nominations to borough council.