Sorting Out Options on Keystone Sanitary Landfill Expansion Plan

On June 18th, Scranton Times-Tribune journalist, Kyle Wind, released an article that considers both sides of the KSL expansion debate in the wake of the release of the DEP's Second Environmental Assessment Review Letter. In the article, Wind quotes FOL's own Patrick Clark. Here's an excerpt from that interview: 

"At the end of the day, they have to prove that the benefits outweigh the known and potential harms. All of the benefits are either removed or about money, and all of the harms have not been mitigated yet....This is an equation you cannot solve. You simply can't come to the conclusion that the benefits do outweigh the harms. And if you do, you're doing so purely on a dollars-and-cents level."  -Patrick Clark

To read the full article, click on this link. 

 

Times Tribunes Editorial Board: Dump Review Doesn't Build Confidence

"Approval of this expansion [of Keystone Sanitary Landfill], which portends far more harm than benefit, would constitute a colossal failure of the state government to protect the environment and economy of Northeast Pennsylvania." 

Thank you, Scranton Times-Tribunes Editorial Board, for getting it right on the issue once again! Please click this link to read the entire piece from the Times-Tribune.

 

 

Dunmore Elects New Mayor Tim Burke Who Ran A Campaign Centered Around His Opposition to the Keystone Expansion

As quoted in a May 6th story in the Scranton Times-Tribune, Tim Burke had this to say about why he was running against the incumbent, Patrick "Nibs" Loughney: "I believe that if we close that landfill after eight to ten years or whatever its remaining life expectancy ends up being, we can bring jobs into the area. We need more manufacturing jobs to keep young people right here instead of having a place where you have to worry about a landfill right in the middle of the neighborhood....I won't give up the fight." The rest of that article by Kyle Wind as well as the official election results are linked below. 

Dunmore Mayor's Race Contested, for Change

Dunmore 2017 Primary Mayoral Election Results

Burke Adds GOP Nomination to Dem Win in Dunmore Mayoral Race

Senator Bernie Sanders Mentions Our Fight Against the KSL Expansion During Pruitt Hearing

Senator Bernie Sanders named KSL during the congressional hearing on the nomination of Attorney General Scott Pruitt to be the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is proof that FOL's fight against the KSL expansion is being heard even in Washington! To read what Senator Sanders had to say on KSL, skip to page 161 of the document linked below. 

Nomination of Attorney General Scott Pruitt to be Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Injustice class at Bucknell University working with FOL

Friends, we need your participation!  Students from an Environmental Injustice class at Bucknell University would like to highlight the environmental injustice posed by the Keystone Sanitary Landfill on our community.  The link below will lead you to a document that requests that you take a photo and use your own words to describe it.  

 

When considering what to capture in your photos and descriptions, it could be helpful to consider such questions as: What are the various injustices Friends of Lackawanna seeks to stop or correct?  Why did you get involved with Friends of Lackawanna?  What motivates your community activism?  Who or what has been disproportionately impacted?

 

Please make sure to use the Photo Voice Template and also the Photo Consent Form if you have other people in your photo.  You can email your submissions to friendsoflackwanna@gmail.org.  The students will write a report and prepare a presentation at the end of the semester.  Thank you!

Letter to the Editor: July 12, 2016

In today's Letters to the Editor, Katharine Spanish gives a powerful personal story on why a mega-landfill does not belong, and should certainly not be able to continuously expand, in the middle of residential areas.

Katharine states, "I bought the house in which I grew up, the house for which I have grand memories as a child, the house where I wanted to raise my own family, the house that my three beautiful children, ages 4, 2 and 1, call home. No residential neighborhood should live in the shadow of a massive landfill.

That is why on July 18 at 6 p.m. in the Mid Valley High School auditorium, I will tell the DEP that it must reject the landfill’s expansion. I encourage others to do the same."

Read more

City Solicitor Says KLS's Use of Green Ridge Line Permitted; FOL Disagrees

Last night City Solicitor Shrive delivered a letter to council saying that KSL's use of the Green Ridge line is permissible. While we have not reviewed the letter in its entirety, we wholeheartedly disagree with that assessment. Thank you Members of Council for seeing this for what it is. We will not stop until the line is shut.

Excerpt:

Council members expressed dismay. They said Mr. Shrive’s opinion did not provide a compelling rationale and stands in stark contrast to a letter submitted last week by resident Samantha Maloney that convinced council that opponents of the alternate line are correct.

DEP to hold public hearing on Keystone landfill expansion

The state Department of Environmental Protection scheduled a public hearing on the 44.6-year expansion plan from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Monday, July 18, at Mid Valley High School in Throop.

“We are happy to keep filling up auditoriums to make our position clear, but it hasn’t changed since the beginning,” said Pat Clark, one of the leaders of anti-expansion Friends of Lackawanna. “This expansion was absurd the moment it was proposed. It was senseless at the time of the past two meetings. And it remains preposterous now.”

Read More Here

 

The Garbage Has To Go Somewhere: Pat Clark Guest Editorial

"The garbage has to go somewhere." In this Scranton Times-Tribune Guest Editorial, FOL core member, Pat Clark, explains the flawed, short-sighted logic of that statement and outlines why we need to be moving forward to a circular economy that eliminates waste, and not backward by tripling down on an antiquated industry.

Excepts Below. Full Story Here

 One hundred billion pounds of garbage already have been deposited in Lackawanna County’s two megadumps — Alliance Sanitary Landfill and Keystone Sanitary Landfill. If the expansion that Keystone proposes gets approved, that number will more than triple.

Trying to justify this expansion defies logic and one of the attempts we hear most often is that “the garbage has got to go somewhere.” However, using that argument to justify this proposed expansion is flawed, lazy, shortsighted and encourages poor policy.

First, there is already plenty of available landfill space for garbage and any argument claiming that expansions are needed due to a landfill capacity shortage is a myth. In reality, there is no landfill capacity shortage on a national, state or local level...

Next, actively seeking and approving landfill expansions is a backward-looking policy. Instead of seeking more landfill space, progressive communities and companies around the world are aggressively doing the exact opposite...

The future is clear and it does not involve expanding landfills. It involves a more sustainable, circular world with alternative approaches to handling waste. However, as long as an excess supply of cheap landfill space remains, and as long as unneeded expansions such as Keystone’s are approved, the sustainable shift will be hindered and any impetus for creating a strong policy to support that shift becomes the proverbial can kicked down the road. In Keystone’s case, it’s a very long road...

...Further, Northeast Pennsylvania has already gone above and beyond the call of duty for society in how much waste we have taken. One hundred billion is a lot of anything, let alone pounds of garbage buried in our valley.

So we find ourselves at an inflection point. Progressive companies, cities and countries are speeding toward a future of eliminating as much waste as possible. Do we want to be part of that smarter future? Or would we rather watch Keystone’s expansion send our area in the exact opposite direction, cementing our reputation as a dumping ground for decades to come?

It’s time for our area to look forward, not back. It’s time to get ahead of the curve, not triple down on an antiquated industry. It’s time to plan for a brighter future, not to block out the sun with a mountain of garbage.

NPR: Fight over Scranton-area landfill exposes generational divide

Thanks to Keystone Crossroads, Friends of Lackawanna was recently featured regionally on NPR. The conversation chronicles FOL's fight to close and cap a mega landfill that sits less than a quarter mile from a residential community. 

Excerpts: 

The Viewmont Mall, in Dickson City, has spectacular views of the Wyoming Valley: rolling green mountains, clusters of neat homes and Scranton's bustling downtown. But there are a few mountains that look a little different than the others.

"See the sort of messy piles up at the top?" Michele Dempsey is pointing across the valley from her car. "Where it looks, like, black? That's where the active face is, that is where they are putting garbage."

Dempsey is talking about the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, a 750-acre operation that accepts 7,250 tons of refuse in 520 heavy trucks each day, much of it from out of state. Dempsey is the founder of a group called Friends of Lackawanna that's trying to stop the expansion of KSL.

To Listen or read the full story, click here. 

Cartwright: Future Too Bright For Dump Expansion

Thank you, Congressman Cartwright, for being a champion of the environment and a champion of the health, reputation, and future of our area! From Flint to NEPA, you represent and protect the people. We applaud you for your strength and conviction on this issue and for standing up for what is right on our behalf.

Excerpt:
I oppose the expansion because it’s about our vision for the future of our area. I think we need to be doing things that help our area’s ability to attract the kind of high-paying manufacturing jobs that enable middle-class families to thrive, grow and allow our children to stay in the area....The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection should decline to issue what is tantamount to a 50-year permit to expand the landfill.

"Scranton's Future: What's Next?"

"Scranton's Future: What's Next?" At a forum discussing the future of the area held on 4/18/2016, Michele Dempsey reiterated FOL's unwavering stance, “I’m a huge believer in the future of Scranton, and the future of Scranton doesn’t start in full until the landfill expansion is stopped.”

Also, thank you Senator Blake for reiterating your opposition to the expansion and the kind words about FOL.

Sondra Myers moderated the discussion and some of her comments are directly on point, “We’re not so naive as to yearn for the good old days. Neither are we so complacent as to be satisfied with the present...What we are aiming to do is choose a future that’s economically viable, committed to excellence in education, culture and healthcare, and in general a sense of well-being.”

Read the full story 

Editorial: Permit Case Requires Investigation

Thank you for highlighting this issue, Times-Tribune Editorial Board! Citizens demand that the City fight to uphold the 1990 Settlement Agreement that limited KSL leachate discharge to the Dedicated Line.

Excerpt:
Controversy surrounding the massive Keystone Sanitary Landfill is not a new phenomenon. Any environmental matter involving the dump is important public business.

That is the case now as the enterprise seeks a 50-year expansion that would import upwards of 100 million more tons of garbage into Lackawanna County. It was the case in the 1980s as state regulators cited the dump for violations. And it was the case in 1990 when Keystone sued for the right to discharge the dump’s treated effluent into municipal sewage lines beneath Dunmore and Green Ridge.

That case ended in a settlement, under which the dump agreed to construct a dedicated sewer line for its waste.

It is remarkable, given that 1990 settlement, that Green Ridge residents have discovered that treated leachate, the dump’s effluent, has been running through a sewer line serving that residential part of town.

Just as remarkable is SSA Executive Director Gene Barrett’s explanation. He contends that use of the line is part of a permit modification that somehow was not specifically included in the permit.

Scranton City Counsel Presented Petition on Leachate Line

ManyMany thanks to the Green Ridge Neighborhood Association and all the citizens and FOLers who came to the Scranton Council meeting to demand that legal action be taken to uphold the 1990 Settlement Agreement and stop the flow of leachate through the combined sewer line in Green Ridge that can back up, allowing leachate into homes, schools, churches, and businesses or to overflow into the Lackawanna River. Many thanks to the 400+ citizens who signed the petition, as well. You are making a difference! thanks to the Green Ridge Neighborhood Association and all the citizens and FOLers who came to the Scranton Council meeting to demand that legal action be taken to uphold the 1990 Settlement Agreement and stop the flow of leachate through the combined sewer line in Green Ridge that can back up, allowing leachate into homes, schools, churches, and businesses or to overflow into the Lackawanna River. Many thanks to the 400+ citizens who signed the petition, as well. You are making a difference!

 

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Scranton City Council Presented Petition on Leachate Line

Many thanks to the Green Ridge Neighborhood Association and all the citizens and FOLers who came to the Scranton Council meeting to demand that legal action be taken to uphold the 1990 Settlement Agreement and stop the flow of leachate through the combined sewer line in Green Ridge that can back up, allowing leachate into homes, schools, churches, and businesses or to overflow into the Lackawanna River. Many thanks to the 400+ citizens who signed the petition, as well. You are making a difference!

Read More Here