Scranton City Council opposes proposed landfill expansion, water company rate hikes

Thank you Scranton Council! We encourage everyone to submit comments to Roger Bellas, DEP Northeast Regional Office, 2 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701, or email him at rbellas@pa.gov.

Excerpt: “Several council members expressed concern that the proposed expansion of the landfill, which is located in Dunmore and Throop, would adversely affect community health and the environment. The expansion would last 42.4 years, during which time the landfill would bring in about 188 billion pounds of waste, according to a timeline the landfill provided DEP.

“I see the landfill as a hazard to people’s health,” Councilwoman Jessica Rothchild said when reached between council’s caucus and regular meeting. “Based on what I’ve read and my understanding of the expansion, I think the negatives outweigh the positives by far.”

Council President Bill Gaughan suggested sending the letter, a plan Rothchild and councilmen Kyle Donahue, Tom Schuster and Mark McAndrew endorsed.

In July, DEP released the results of an environmental assessment weighing the harms and benefits of the expansion that determined the benefits “clearly outweigh” known and potential harms. Benefits listed in the assessment include tax revenue, continued employment of local workers, lucrative host agreements and recycling and cleanup programs. Landfill officials have pointed to the assessment as evidence the expansion won’t create serious environmental, public health or safety issues for residents.

The DEP announced last week that it had begun the technical review phase of the landfill’s proposed Phase III expansion, which includes a 60-day window for public comment that closes June 30 at 4 p.m. Council will send its letter as part of the comment process.”

DEP moves into final phase of reviews for landfill expansion

FYI: The DEP is now in the Technical Review phase of Keystone's expansion evaluation.

From the story: "According to the timetable, the expansion will last 42.4 years, bringing in 94,072,940 tons of waste, or 188 billion pounds — the equivalent of nearly 258 Empire State Buildings."

NOTE TO DEP: You can't build 258 Empire State Buildings on top of a foundation originally designed to support your back deck. It's going to end badly for everyone.

https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/.../dep-moves-into-final...

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DEP moves into final phase of reviews for landfill expansion

BY FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: MAY 1, 2020

The state Department of Environmental Protection is moving into its final phase of reviews before it decides whether to approve Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s proposed 42-year expansion plan.

The DEP announced Thursday that it began its technical review phase of the landfill’s proposed Phase III expansion earlier this month. The review includes a 60-day window for public comment that begins today and closes June 30 at 4 p.m., DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said in an email.

Keystone sent revised plans and supplemental information to the DEP last month after the department requested additional information as part of an environmental assessment in July that weighed the harms and benefits of the expansion. The DEP determined the benefits “clearly outweigh” the known and potential harms, according to the assessment. Both the assessment and technical review are part of the overall review of the landfill’s March 2014 application for expansion, Connolly said.

At the conclusion of the assessment, the DEP asked for more information on seven items, including the complete design of the facility with detailed drawings of development stages that link the work to a timetable.

According to the timetable, the expansion will last 42.4 years, bringing in 94,072,940 tons of waste, or 188 billion pounds — the equivalent of nearly 258 Empire State Buildings.

The landfill would continue operations until 2064. The closure would include planting grass and other vegetation and offering the land to Throop and Dunmore boroughs as a greenspace buffer between the Casey Highway and the towns, according to supplemental information Keystone submitted to the DEP.

“Ultimate land use would be either a municipal recreational and/or bank for endangered vegetation,” according to Keystone.

The DEP will spend 90 days reviewing features of Keystone’s expansion plan, including the proposed liner and leachate systems, gas management, slope stability and plans for mine subsidence, according to the DEP. It will then send a letter to Keystone with a time frame to respond.

The time frame depends on what information the department is looking for, but deficiency letters typically have a limit of 60 business days, Connolly said.

After receiving a response from the landfill, the DEP will have 60 days for a second review, where it can either approve the expansion or send the landfill a pre-denial letter, giving Keystone a final chance to respond.

The DEP would then have a final technical review and issue a decision within 30 days of Keystone’s response, according to the department.

Pat Clark, a leader of anti-landfill expansion grassroots group Friends of Lackawanna, said the group is still reviewing the new information.

“But, as we have been doing since 2014, we will read through everything submitted. And we will submit comments,” he said in an email.

The public can mail written comments to Roger Bellas, waste management program manager, DEP Northeast Regional Office, 2 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701, or email him at rbellas@pa.gov.

Appeals court rules against challengers to Keystone Landfill expansion

[Zoning Case update] The Commonwealth Court didn't rule on the merits of our zoning case. Instead, it issued a ruling on the procedural appeal process of a zoning matter like ours and did not rule on the primary issue at hand of whether a landfill is a structure (and is therefore subject to height restrictions).

Full details below and a few additional points:

1) Our team is working to digest all of this and will figure out what our available, and best, next steps are for the zoning matter.

2) As the article states, "In no way, shape or form do we view this as a done deal."

3) This is a frustrating ruling as it doesn't resolve the main issue at hand and opens the door for even more possible legal uncertainty.

4) Confusing? Yep. We are reading and reviewing it all now and will, as always, keep everyone updated.

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BY TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 19, 2020

A group opposed to Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s proposed expansion suffered another defeat Tuesday when an appellate court tossed its appeal of a ruling that declared landfills are not structures subject to a height restriction.

Friends of Lackawanna has been battling Keystone for years over whether Dunmore’s zoning ordinance, which limits the height of structures to 50 feet, applies to landfills. The group contends the landfill’s trash pile constitutes a structure and it therefore must comply. Keystone maintains the ordinance applies only to buildings.

In 2014, the borough’s zoning officer issued an opinion in favor of Keystone. The zoning board and a senior Northampton County judge specially appointed to hear the case affirmed that decision, which led Friends of Lackawanna to appeal to the state Commonwealth Court.

In a 15-page opinion filed Tuesday, the court did not rule on the merits of the case. Rather it agreed with Keystone that the issue should never have been before the court system because the zoning hearing board did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Keystone’s attorney, Jeff Belardi, said the ruling is a victory for the landfill because it lets stand the zoning officer’s opinion that the expansion does not violate the zoning ordinance.

Pat Clark, one of the leaders of Friends of Lackawanna, said that does not mean the fight is over, because the court’s ruling leaves the door open to possible other challenges.

“In no way, shape or form do we view this as a done deal,” he said.

In its ruling, the Commonwealth Court said the zoning hearing board had no authority decide whether the landfill was subject to the height restriction. That’s because, by law, Friends of Lackawanna’s only recourse was to challenge the validity of the entire zoning ordinance.

The group initially did that, but later abandoned that argument and focused on the height restriction issue. Once it withdrew the validity challenge, the zoning board no longer had authority to rule on the matter, the court said.

“It said the argument that’s been going on in the court system over the zoning ordinance and the height restriction should have never been played out,” Belardi said. “The only thing that could have been in front of the zoning board is a challenge to the whole ordinance. Friends of Lackawanna did not do that.”

Belardi said the group cannot now raise that challenge because the time frame to do so passed.

Clark said it’s not clear yet whether Keystone must file for any other zoning permits. If it’s required to do so, the Commonwealth Court opinion leaves open the possibility Friends of Lackawanna can challenge them.

“I can see the whole process starting over again if a permit application is needed. We don’t know the answer to that yet,” Clark said.

Clark said the ruling is frustrating. He had hoped to get a ruling on the merits of the dispute, only to be told the issue should have never gone to court.

Belardi also expressed frustration. He said the height restriction fight was unnecessary because Keystone agreed two years ago that it would not seek to pile trash higher than it currently does. He said Friends of Lackawanna continued to challenge the issue, however, because it was concerned Keystone would later alter that plan.

Clark said the group is considering its options, which include asking the Commonwealth Court to reconsider its ruling or to ask the state Supreme Court to hear an appeal.

“We need to figure out what our next steps are legally and procedurally,” he said.

Dunmore, Throop officials weigh in on borough-employed landfill inspectors

In theory, a Borough employed inspector could help, but that person would not be authorized to regulate or cite the landfill. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection needs to do its job, and do it in a way that the citizens its mandated to protect, have faith in. To date, as it relates to Keystone, DEP has not done so.

https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/.../dunmore-throop...

Dunmore, Throop officials weigh in on borough-employed landfill inspectors

BY FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 8, 2020

Rather than rely on state inspectors to monitor Keystone Sanitary Landfill, Dunmore and Throop could employ their own inspectors to address complaints, but neither town has done so in years.

Last month, residents reported a rotten egg smell that permeated the towns to the state Department of Environmental Protection, but delayed response times from state inspectors drew criticism from residents and officials.

The DEP offers grants for host municipalities that will pay for 50% of the salary and expenses for up to two certified inspectors. Both Taylor and Ransom Twp. employ their own inspectors, who monitor Alliance Landfill.

Previously, Joe Lorince, Dunmore’s zoning, code and health officer, served as Dunmore’s landfill inspector. He estimated that he hasn’t been the inspector in about seven years. He no longer holds the position because of concerns that serving as both the landfill inspector and zoning officer created a conflict, he said. He called the position having an extra pair of eyes in town. “When you have your own person there, you have somebody to respond to,” Lorince said.

Throop hasn’t had a landfill inspector in at least 12 years, Chief Clerk Robin Galli said. Throop officials haven’t talked about it at length, but they have had discussions about hiring landfill inspectors to respond to odors, said council President Rich Kucharski. The position isn’t in the budget, so “we would have to look at numbers,” he said.

“In light of the odor issues that have been occurring in the last couple months, it’s something that we’re probably going to take a serious look at,” Kucharski said.

Dunmore Councilman Vince Amico, who criticized the DEP’s odor reporting process in January, said he would like to see the borough employ its own landfill inspector if it’s feasible to do so. “It would be beneficial to the borough, that’s for sure,” he said.

Amico previously raised concerns over residents having to wait as long as two hours for an inspector to show up at their home to verify a smell. “You could call one of your neighbors to verify an odor when they’re in your community, as opposed to waiting a half hour, 45 minutes, whatever that may be,” he said. Amico intends to speak to his fellow council members about the position and learn more about the cost of and requirements for hiring an inspector. He also reached out to Taylor’s borough manager to learn about how the town uses its inspector.

Taylor’s inspector works about 20 hours a week, earning $17.60 an hour, Borough Manager Dan Zeleniak said. The inspector, Jim Schiavo, is on call, Zeleniak said. When the borough receives a complaint, it will send Schiavo, who lives in town, to check on the issue and create a report.

Schiavo will often tag along with DEP inspectors, he said.

“That’s the whole idea of it — to have more people on the ground,” Zeleniak said, calling the inspector an intermediary between the borough and landfill.

Ransom Twp.’s host landfill inspector, David Bird, works about 20 to 30 hours each month, earning $25 an hour, said JoAnn Pane, the township’s secretary and treasurer. Historically, the township had two inspectors, each working about 20 hours, she said.

Any municipality that hosts a landfill should be in favor of anything that leads to increased transparency and communications between the landfill and host community, said Pat Clark, a leader of anti-landfill expansion grassroots group Friends of Lackawanna. He believes the problem goes beyond hiring an inspector, though.

“The larger issue here, and elsewhere, is the feckless nature in which the DEP handles policing of landfills in general, and especially, here at Keystone,” Clark said in an email, noting, however, any borough-employed inspector would not have as much power as someone employed by the DEP.

Although he didn’t explain the borough’s lack of an inspector, Dunmore Mayor Timothy Burke said he would rather have the state pay for an inspector from the Environmental Protection Agency. “The EPA would have somebody qualified — it’d be somebody nonpolitical in the job,” he said.

Jessup council votes to send letter to DEP over landfill leachate discharge

DEP has not made a decision on whether or not they will hold a public hearing. We encourage everyone to contact Colleen Connolly, PA DEP, at 570-826-2511 or by email at coconnolly@pa.gov and request that a meeting be held on this important matter. As Dunmore Councilman Vince Amico states “The more information that’s put out to the public, the better off we all are”.

https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/.../jessup-council-votes...

Jessup council votes to send letter to DEP over landfill leachate discharge

BY FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 5, 2020

In a show of support for Dunmore, Jessup council voted this week to send the state Department of Environmental Protection a letter urging it to hold a public hearing regarding the Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s proposal to discharge treated leachate into two local waterways.

“I think the towns should stick together,” said Jessup Councilwoman Rella Scassellati. “It will affect all of us — just like the power plant affects more than just Jessup.”

The landfill submitted three permit applications to the DEP in December, presenting plans for an alternative leachate treatment method that would allow it to discharge the liquid into Eddy Creek along Marshwood Road and into Little Roaring Brook near Dunham Drive. The landfill would also spray the treated leachate onto its dirt roads to keep dust down. Leachate is the liquid that percolates through trash piles.

The DEP deemed one of the landfill’s permit applications administratively complete and ready to be reviewed, but it needs more information from the landfill before it can begin reviewing the other two, DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said in an email. The DEP will not make a decision on a public hearing until all three applications are complete, Connolly said.

The landfill currently treats its leachate and discharges it into Pennsylvania American Water’s sewer system. PAW then further treats the leachate at its South Scranton treatment plant and discharges the effluent into the Lackawanna River.

Under the landfill’s alternative discharge proposal, it would treat the leachate to a greater degree before discharging it into the waterways.

Scassellati compared Dunmore and its contention with the landfill to the fight between Jessup residents and Invenergy LLC’s 1,485-megawatt Lackawanna Energy Center power plant. Specifically, the energy center had floated plans to discharge treated wastewater into Grassy Island Creek in Jessup, though it eventually opted to discharge into the borough’s sewer system.

Dunmore Councilman Vince Amico, who asked the DEP in December to hold a public hearing, said he spoke to Jessup council members about the proposed discharge plan during a recent Sierra Club meeting.

Amico wants experts to explain what would be discharged and what the treatment process is. Having a public hearing is vital, he said.

“The more information that’s put out to the public, the better off we all are,” he said. “More information is always better.”

He lauded Jessup officials for requesting the hearing.

Contact the writer:

flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5181;

@flesnefskyTT on Twitter

John Cole: Landfill Cartoon

The landfill stinks.

Today's work by John Cole doesn't.

Coletoons - John Cole political cartoons

LTE: Teach recycling

Excellent Letter to the Editor by Tim McCabe of South Abington. Education and new policies around how we deal with garbage, from producing less to recycling more, is how real change will occur.

https://m.thetimes-tribune.com/.../letters-to-the-editor...

Teach recycling

Editor: Recent Times-Tribune articles have noted the economic challenges presented by cross-contamination of materials in single stream recycling collection and the danger to recycling staff of rancid waste “juice” from residual liquid leaking from bottles, jars and cans.

Despite comparatively arduous household processing requirements for rinsing, sorting and dropping off items at central collection points rather than curbside, a fair number of European nations recycle well over 50% of their solid waste flow. In the United States, the amount is approximately 35%. As residents of NEPA know, we need to rely less on landfill disposal.

Locally, many people are very dedicated to recycling. I assume many others would be willing to increase their efforts if only they had better direction on what exactly is and isn’t recyclable and how properly to prepare items for collection. As it stands now, household recycling education is almost entirely haphazard.

I believe that more formal and consistent municipal provision of instructions regarding recycling is needed. Such education likely would engender a greater sense of civic responsibility toward recycling and alternatives to single-stream collection for a cleaner, more viable supply of recyclable material.

TIM McCABE

SOUTH ABINGTON TWP.

As complaints of rotten smell multiply, landfill critics said DEP reporting process flawed

The distinct putrid stench from the Keystone Sanitary Landfill nauseated residents of Dunmore and Throop over the past few weeks as they flocked to social media to complain about insufferable smells and a reporting process that is “designed to fail.” Article 1 Section 27 PA Constitution – We have the right to CLEAN AIR!

Excerpt: The odors will only get worse if the landfill receives approval for its proposed expansion that would allow it to continue piling garbage for nearly half a century, said Michele Dempsey, a founding member of Friends of Lackawanna. “Let’s be clear, this is the landfill on its absolute best behavior as it is being assessed for a 50-year expansion, and it still can’t control its malodors,” she said in an email. “Our only recourse is the DEP, and their reporting process is absurd and their oversight is impotent.”

Write to Governor Tom Wolf and tell him that his PA DEP must deny this expansion:

https://www.governor.pa.gov/contact/

https://m.thetimes-tribune.com/.../as-complaints-of...

As complaints of rotten smell multiply, landfill critics said DEP reporting process flawed

BY FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: JANUARY 16, 2020

As the state Department of Environmental Protection investigates reports of a rotten smell that permeated parts of Dunmore and Throop on Monday, critics of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill are calling for reform on how the state handles odor reporting.

The DEP received six complaints from residents of the boroughs on Monday night, with a DEP responder traveling to the homes of all six complainants to speak with them and confirm the odor. Those who complained told the inspector it smelled like rotten eggs or sulfur, with the DEP employee calling it possibly “garbage or decay,” according to a DEP incident report. One resident called it “something else that is difficult to define.”

The inspector recommended follow-ups with both the landfill and Maid-Rite Specialty Foods at 105 Keystone Industrial Park Road, Dunmore. The inspector smelled the odor outside of Maid-Rite. The inspector did not smell anything at the landfill’s guard shack Monday night, and neither did the guard, according to the report.

A landfill employee told the DEP Tuesday that “they had some odor issues there in the last 10 days,” according to the report. Landfill officials told the DEP that it is working on new measures to control site odors, including more cover materials, a specialized coating known as Posi-Shell and a foam product on lagoons and ponds to contain smells, according to the report.

Several of the complaints said the smell has been especially a problem for at least two to three weeks.

Dunmore and Throop residents flocked to social media, with dozens of Facebook comments on local grassroots activists’ pages complaining about the smell or reporting process.

‘Designed to fail’

To be reported as a malodor from the landfill, which is the most severe type of odor that causes an annoyance and discomfort to the public, a DEP inspector has to confirm that an off-site odor exists, determine if it comes from the landfill as well as its intensity, duration and impact to the public; and investigate landfill operations to see if there was an operational problem, DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said in an email.

The DEP prefers to have an inspector meet with people at their property, she said. Complaints are recorded as soon as someone calls the department’s hotline.

The process is “laughably flawed,” said Pat Clark, a leader of anti-landfill expansion grassroots group Friends of Lackawanna.

“Their mission is to protect the environment for the citizens of Pennsylvania, yet they place the entire burden on whether or not a landfill — which is rotting garbage — smells on the shoulders of the citizens instead of just doing their job,” he said.

Because the DEP sends inspectors to people’s homes or places of work to confirm the smell, the smell will often have shifted elsewhere by the time an inspector arrives, Clark said, explaining it can take hours for someone to show up.

“The smell doesn’t sit there like a green cloud hovering over an individual house,” he said. “It moves.”

He called the reporting system “designed to fail.”

“The more people complain, the more people there are to get to, the longer that list takes to get through,” he said.

There is no set time limit for how quickly a DEP employee has to respond to a complaint, but they try to respond as quickly as possible, Connolly said.

‘The process is flawed’

The odors will only get worse if the landfill receives approval for its proposed expansion that would allow it to continue piling garbage for nearly half a century, said Michele Dempsey, a founding member of Friends of Lackawanna.

“Let’s be clear, this is the landfill on its absolute best behavior as it is being assessed for a 50-year expansion, and it still can’t control its malodors,” she said in an email. “Our only recourse is the DEP, and their reporting process is absurd and their oversight is impotent.”

The need for reform goes beyond the DEP’s reporting system, Clark said, calling for reform on how the department treats and inspects landfills. He pointed to the DEP allowing self-reporting and the department’s analysis that the benefits of the landfill’s expansion outweigh the known and potential harms.

If people call the DEP to report an odor, they often don’t want a stranger showing up at their door, especially late at night, said Dunmore Councilman Vince Amico, who received complaints from residents about the rotten egg smell on Jan. 10..

Residents also might not be able to wait around for two hours until an inspector arrives to meet with them and verify the smell, Amico said, emphasizing that he doesn’t fault the inspectors.

“I think the process is flawed,” he said. “The onus is on the complainant to prove that there’s a problem.”

The councilman suggested several remedies, including setting up some type of monitoring system in the town and simply having inspectors respond to problem areas without actually visiting anyone’s specific address.

Both Clark and Amico feel that residents often don’t even realize they need to call the DEP to report problem odors, which leads to fewer reports.

‘Worst I’ve ever smelled’

Liz Hahn-Mattioli called the DEP at 8:24 p.m. Monday to report a rotten egg smell that seeped through her home on Dunmore Street in Throop.

She told a DEP inspector around 10 p.m. the smell was so strong that she and her three children all got headaches, said Hahn-Mattioli, the president of Concerned Citizens of Throop, a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of borough residents. By the time the inspector arrived, however, the smell was much less pungent.

“It was the worst I’ve ever smelled,” she said, explaining she has lived there for 20 years. “I’ve never had that smell permeate through my house.”

To reach the DEP’s 24-hour emergency hotline, call 570-826-2511 or 1-800-541-2050.

Contact the writer: flesnefsky@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5181; @flesnefskyTT on Twitter

Call the DEP if You Smell It

Tonight Concerned Citizens of Throop reports that the stench from Keystone Sanitary Landfill was horrible. The smell traveled as far as Dickson City. Please note: this is the Landfill on its best behavior as it is being assessed by the DEP for an expansion. Should the DEP grant the 50 year expansion, all bets are off. Thick, putrid landfill smells will be the norm across the valley for at least the next 2 generations. Don’t believe it? Drive past the CES Landfill in Hegins (same owners) along I-81. For at least a mile or two before and after you reach it, you will not want to breathe.

Everyone impacted needs to call and report.

PADEP After hours hotline: 800 541-2050

Please note: the process to get the smell on record with the DEP is absolutely ABSURD! You have to call and then they will send someone out to verify the smell, but it has to be on your own property to count. When that person gets there, often hours later when the smell has dissipated, they can and very often have disagreed that the obvious landfill smell is coming from the landfill. They get to make the final determination. IF they agree, then and only then is it considered officially on record. THAT is why the DEP keeps saying there aren’t many complaints. Absolute absurdity.

Don’t let that stop you from calling. Please feel free to post below if you call and let us know what happens when you call and afterward. If the DEP won’t log it, at least we will have a record of citizens reporting smells.

Thank you!

LTE: Learn from legacy

Excellent Letter to the Editor in The Scranton Times-Tribune today!

Learn from legacy

Editor: Thousands of people perished or were seriously injured in the NEPA mining industry.

After dying in mining accidents, their bodies were often tossed on their families’ porches. The miners’ wives and children were left destitute. Health insurance did not exist and miners were also required to use their meager earnings to buy tools and supplies from the company store. When the demand for anthracite coal disappeared, so did much business and industry.

Our area became economically depressed, as it continues to be today. Middle-age folks like me grew up with the realities of walking on hollow ground, playing on culm dumps and dealing with the many issues that accompany living and raising families in a dampened economy.

Now, the Department of Environmental Protection and several local businesspeople ask us to further sacrifice our air quality, our water quality and our overall health in exchange for what they call “economic benefits” to the area. Fool us once, shame on you — fool us twice, shame on us. When coal was king, only the few got rich, many were killed or injured, our land was devastated and our economy eventually tanked.

There are so many ways to provide for our communities and stimulate our economy without killing our people and further damaging our environment. It is critical that we begin to be more thoughtful about the amount and type of garbage we create, to challenge the waste industry to be smarter about how we dispose of that garbage and to learn to invest in business and industry that will allow us to build a better, safer and more sustainable future. It is imperative that we do something different this time around. Our lives depend on it.

ANNA JOYCE KILCULLEN

DUNMORE

Editorial: Caution due on landfill’s water plans

Keystone Sanitary Landfill wants to treat its own leachate (toxic garbage juice) and release it directly into Eddy’s Creek and Little Roaring Brook so the Landfill can save money. As the Times Tribune Editorial Board points out in another spot on article, this puts our water quality at the mercy of the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and “Dunmore voters already have expressed their skepticism at the ballot box regarding the government’s ability, or willingness, to guard the public interest over the landfill’s interests.”

https://m.thetimes-tribune.com/.../caution-due-on...

Caution due on landfill’s water plans

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD / PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 27, 2019

The state Department of Environmental Protection, which in recent years failed to detect any of the many odors emanating from the Keystone Sanitary Landfill and found that economic “benefits” from the massive dump’s massive expansion would outweigh environmental concerns, has compromised its credibility regarding the landfill.

So skepticism and extreme caution are necessary as the landfill advances a plan to change the treatment of water that flows from the landfill in Dunmore and Throop before it flows into tributaries of the Lackawanna River.

The landfill pretreats the landfill effluent known as leachate before sending it into the Scranton-Dunmore sewer system, operated by Pennsylvania American Water. It is treated as sewage at the system’s treatment plant in South Scranton before being discharged into the Lackawanna River.

Change in treatment plans

Now, the landfill has asked the DEP for permission to increase wastewater treatment at the landfill and release most of the treated water into nearby Eddy Creek and Little Roaring Brook, while using some of it for dust control at the landfill.

According to a landfill spokesman, the method would not reduce the quality of the discharged water that enters the rivers, while reducing the landfill’s treatment costs and the costs of acquiring water for dust control.

Dunmore voters already have expressed their skepticism at the ballot box regarding the government’s ability, or willingness, to guard the public interest over the landfill’s interests.

Those voters have thrown out of office several borough council members who had voted to amend the borough zoning ordinance specifically as requested by the landfill to accommodate its expansion plans.

Treatment of the landfill’s leachate will continue for decades regardless of whether the landfill expands. The DEP must demonstrate to the public that its decision is rooted in the public interest in environmental soundness rather than the landfill’s financial interests alone. That, in turn, requires complete transparency.

Chris Kelly: GO SMELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

Chris Kelly always has a way with words. We particularly enjoyed his version of a famous Christmas carol which he appropriately named “Go Smell It on the Mountain.”

https://m.thetimes-tribune.com/.../chris-kelly-christmas...

The marathon battle over the proposed 50-year expansion of Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore and Throop raged on, with landfill representatives stooping to threats and rigged council votes and expansion opponents standing up and getting elected.

Mayor Tim Burke’s brave veto of a zoning amendment that would have sold out the borough and the region for the sole benefit of landfill owner Louis DeNaples will have stalwart backing from new voices on council.

GO SMELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

Go smell it on the mountain,

Over the hills and everywhere

A pall descending over Bucktown

The landfill reeks this morn’

Fire trucks and police stations

Under the borough Christmas tree

From the Grinch up on his mountain

Generosity with a fee

So the neighbors stuck together

Voters rallied to save the day

Ran out the Grinch’s slavish elves

Put expansion on layaway

Go smell it on the mountain

Over the hills, and across this land

Tell the Grinch up on the mountain

The mayor’s veto stands.

John Cole: Picture

A picture paints a thousand words. Editorial cartoonist, John Cole, always nails it.

LTE: Questions landfill's impact on health

Take a moment to read this powerful Letter to the Editor. Dr. Gregory Cali is a physician who specializes in Pulmonary Disease and knows all too well the medical conditions caused by environmental contaminants. We couldn’t agree more with his statement “I was under the impression that the DEP’s job was to protect the public from environmental hazards and that economic effects should be left to other agencies.”

https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/.../letters-to-the...

Questions landfill’s impact on health

Editor: I have followed the events concerning the Keystone Sanitary Landfill expansion controversy with great interest.

I am a former Dunmore resident, and, since 2004, I have practiced pulmonary medicine on Meade Street in Dunmore, with a clear view of the landfill and the nearby used car parking lot. I read the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection report on the landfill entitled “Health Consultation,” dated April 1.

I am concerned about conclusions in the report, which I summarize:

■ The incidence of laryngeal cancer and leukemia is significantly higher in ZIP codes around the landfill. Page 78 of the report states that the incidence of laryngeal cancer for ZIP code 18509 was 122% higher than the rest of the state and 39% higher for all ZIP codes surrounding the landfill. The incidence of leukemia for Zip code 18512 (the one where I work) was 59% higher than the rest of the state. The incidence of stomach cancer in ZIP code 18512 was 71% higher than the rest of the state.

■ Short-term exposure to ammonia, methylamine, acetaldehyde and hydrogen sulfide occurred at monitoring sites such as Mid Valley High School and Sherwood Park in Dunmore. These chemicals can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and respiratory tract.

■ There were peak short-term exposures to particulate matter “that could harm people’s health.”

■ Subsurface vapor exposures (vapor intrusions) into homes are not being analyzed.

In light of these findings, I was surprised that the DEP has determined the economic benefits from the landfill outweigh potential health effects. I was under the impression that the DEP’s job was to protect the public from environmental hazards and that economic effects should be left to other agencies.

I think we need a more extensive health survey in the area around the landfill based on information in the DEP report.

GREGORY CALI, D.O.

Keystone Landfill seeks alternative leachate disposal method

Despite a clear history of not being able to handle its leachate, numerous leachate violations that we know of and countless that likely were not reported by this “self-monitoring” landfill, Keystone is asking the DEP and the public to trust them to treat extremely toxic leachate correctly and discharge directly into waterways that pass by schools and ultimately end up as part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed—drinking water for millions.

It’s a beyond preposterous request that shouldn’t be entertained, yet the DEP has time after time proven its loyalty to the landfill (with whom it’s complicit in keeping information from the public) and confirmed its captured agency status by acting in the best interest of this private company rather than the people they are sworn to protect.

https://m.thetimes-tribune.com/.../keystone-landfill...

Keystone Landfill seeks alternative leachate disposal method

SCRANTON — Keystone Sanitary Landfill plans an alternative leachate treatment method to discharge directly into two nearby waterways and spray on landfill dirt roads to keep dust down, a spokesman said Saturday.

The landfill straddling Dunmore and Throop currently pretreats its leachate — the garbage juice that percolates through the trash piles — and pipes the effluent into the sewer system purchased three years ago by Pennsylvania American Water from the Scranton Sewer Authority.

The landfill’s existing leachate treatment method pretreats the liquid to a level equivalent to household wastewaster, Keystone spokesman Al Magnotta said.

The wastewater of the Scranton-Dunmore sewer system flows to the PAW treatment plant in South Scranton, where it is treated and the resulting effluent discharged into the Lackawanna River.

Now, the landfill seeks state approval to add an alternative method of leachate treatment, he said. The reverse osmosis method represents a higher level of treatment that would allow for discharging effluent into Eddy Creek along Marshwood Road, and into Little Roaring Brook near Dunham Drive, Magnotta said.

“To go to a direct discharge to a stream is a whole new world,” Magnotta said of the higher level of treatment.

Eddy Creek winds through Throop and flows into the Lackawanna River near Route 347.

Little Roaring Brook flows a short distance into Roaring Brook, which then meanders through parts of Dunmore and Scranton and empties into the Lackawanna River behind South Side Bowl.

Proper treatment of leachate is an essential landfill requirement, and Keystone plans the additional treatment option — a $5 million project — for several reasons, Magnotta said.

The additional method would reduce landfill costs of treating and pumping leachate to the PAW sewer system, he said. The landfill also would curb costs of water drawn and bought from the water company for dust control, by filling truck tankers with the higher-level treated effluent and using it instead for dust control, he said.

“It provides us a lot of flexibility and redundancy in our system to make sure we’re operating properly,” Magnotta said. “We’ll achieve a higher level of treatment and we’ll save some money.”

The leachate plan comes as the landfill’s proposal for a nearly 50-year, massive expansion remains under review by the DEP and staunchly opposed by civic group Friends of Lackawanna. A zoning dispute between KSL and the civic group regarding landfill height and structure also remains pending in state Commonwealth Court.

Magnotta said the extra method of leachate treatment does not stem from the expansion plan. Even without expansion, the landfill still would have at least 30 years of post-closure leachate treatment, he said. Century-old segments of the PAW sewer system, if they ever were to collapse, represent a potential threat of forced closure to the landfill, if it were to have only one treatment option dependent on the PAW sewer system, he said.

“We have to think long term,” Magnotta said.

While the existing leachate treatment system has approval from DEP’s solid waste division, the alternative method needs approval from DEP’s water quality bureau, he said.

Keystone will soon have public notices published in The Times-Tribune indicating the landfill will submit to DEP a water quality management permit application seeking a major modification in leachate management and permits to discharge into Eddy Creek and Little Roaring Brook.

Pat Clark, a core member of Friends of Lackawanna, was not aware of the landfill’s plan for an additional leachate option but expressed skepticism.

“The landfill has not earned the benefit of doubt from me and the (Friends’) organization as a whole when it comes to modifications,” Clark said. “My overall takeaway is it’s not (being done by) choice. They probably have to do this for some reason we’re not privy to.”

Contact the writer:

jlockwood@timesshamrock.com

EXCLUSIVE: EPA Investigating Possible Cancer Cluster Near Former Landfill In Delaware County

FOL has continuously stated that we are fighting not only for our generation but for generations to come. This is a story of a landfill that continues to cause health concerns in the community.

Video excerpt: There are kids out there that need us to stand up for them.

Brier credits Dunmore voters for write-in win

“I’m doing this because I’ve always loved Dunmore and always been active in environmental causes,” said Brier, who credits a large group of volunteers for her win.

Click Here for Full Story

Excerpt:
An official count completed today confirmed that Brier easily won a borough council seat with a tidal wave of a write-in votes, an unheard of event in Dunmore politics and rare in Lackawanna County or anywhere else.

“The people came out of the woodwork to help me,” said Brier, 66, an accountant by training and manager of an orthopedics practice.

For probably the first time, Dunmore will have three women on the seven-member council — Brier, incumbent Carol Scrimalli and another newcomer, Beth McDonald Zangardi.

The official results for four available council seats showed incumbent Vince Amico as the top votegetter with 3,001 votes followed by incumbent Michael A. Dempsey, 2,980, Zangardi, 2,922, Brier, 2,323, incumbent Michael F. McHale, 1,428 and incumbent Michael Hayes, 1,083.

Brier’s run for office grew out of disappointment with a Sept. 19 council vote on whether to amend the borough zoning ordinance. The council voted 4-3 to amend the ordinance to say landfills aren’t structures. Whether the landfill qualifies as a structure stands at the heart of Friends of Lackawanna’s appeal of a 2015 borough zoning board decision that found the landfill is not a structure. Friends of Lackawanna urged the council to vote against the amendment with the appeal still pending. Landfill lawyers argued the borough decided long ago the landfill isn’t a structure by not defining it that way in the zoning ordinance, and the amendment would only affirm that.

Amico and Dempsey voted against the amendment. McHale and Hayes voted for it, despite campaign promises to oppose the landfill.

“Vote them out,” many in an overflowed crowd chanted the night the council voted.

Enough voters agreed.

A tale of two 'toons

A tale of two 'toons. In 2016, John Cole published a creative cartoon showing the growing resistance to the Landfill's expansion using one truck chasing another. Today's cartoon, in a wonderful juxtaposition, shows what can happen when people stay engaged. These two cartoons are over 3 years apart. But they tell the continuation of our singular story.

Coletoons - John Cole political cartoons
The Scranton Times-Tribune

Reform in air, politicians

The Scranton Times-Tribune underscores the voter’s rejection of the status quo in Tuesday’s election and how this electoral shift is much more tuned to public interest than private interest.

Excerpt:
Yet the Dunmore Borough Council election was an even more emphatic rejection of status quo, inside-baseball governance at the expense of the public interest. Voters threw out of office at least one and probably two councilmen who voted Sept. 19 to change the borough zoning ordinance specifically to accommodate the vast and unwarranted expansion of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill.

Click Here for Full Article

ANTI-LANDFILL LANDSLIDE!

ANTI-LANDFILL LANDSLIDE!
The last five years have demonstrated that anti-landfill expansion candidates dominate every race. Dunmore voters made it clear last night that what’s in their best interest is their health, well being and future.

Dunmore councilman Hayes ousted while McHale's fate uncertain
BY TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 6, 2019

At least one of two Dunmore councilmen who voted for a zoning amendment that would bolster Keystone Landfill’s expansion plans was ousted by voters, coming in last in a field of five candidates seeking four open seats, according to the unofficial count in Tuesday’s general election.

Michael Hayes was the odd man out with 1,079 votes. That’s less than half of the votes that were garnered by three candidates who opposed the expansion, incumbents Vince Amico, Michael Dempsey and newcomer Beth McDonald Zangardi, who each received more than 2,900 votes.

Incumbent Michael McHale, who also voted for the zoning amendment, had the second lowest total, with 1,424 votes — a stark contrast from the May primary, where he was the highest vote-getter on the Democratic ballot.

Whether McHale retains his seat depends on the results of a write-in campaign launched by Janet Brier. A total of 2,420 write-in votes were cast, which tops McHale’s vote count. There is no way to know whose name was written in until the official count is taken Friday.

Brier and her brother, Chris McGrath, her campaign treasurer, said they are confident she beat out McHale given the number of write-in votes.

“I think we can assume 90 to 95% are hers,” McGrath said. “Even if she got 80 or 90%, she has him beat by 800 to 1,000 votes.”

McHale served on council since 2010. Attempts to reach him for comment Tuesday night were unsuccessful.

The landfill expansion has long been a topic of heated debate. It took center stage in the election after Hayes and McHale joined council members Thomas Ehnot and Carol Scrimalli, who were not up for election, in voting to approve a zoning ordinance that declared sanitary landfills are not considered structures — a decision that would exempt Keystone from a 50-foot height restriction.
The ordinance did not take effect because Mayor Timothy Burke vetoed it. Brier said the election results show the issue remains important to voters.

Brier strongly opposes the landfill expansion and jumped into the race after council’s vote. She was surprised to learn how many write-ins were cast.

“Asking people to write in your name is a daunting task,” she said.

She credited an army of volunteers for convincing voters to make the effort.

“I had a tremendous amount of help with my family, friends and many people I never knew before who stepped up and worked very hard,” she said.

Hayes said he was disappointed with the election outcome, but still believes he did the right thing in voting for the ordinance. He remains concerned the borough will face a lawsuit from the landfill owners, Louis and Dominick Denaples.

“I can walk away with my head held high, knowing that for the last 20 years of my community and public service I always did what I thought was in the best interest for my town,” he said. “I love this town and I’m grateful for the experience.”

Zangardi also campaigned against the landfill expansion. She’s confident Burke’s veto will stand. She’s anxious to take office and start working on other important issues.

“Let’s get down to doing the people’s business. I can’t wait to get started,” she said.

Council members earn $3,000 a year, while the council president is paid $6,000.
Attempts to reach Amico and Dempsey for comment were unsuccessful.