For over 30 years, Dunmore and Throop have been home to one of the largest landfills in the state of Pennsylvania. Now, Keystone Sanitary Landfill wants to expand their operation for another 50 years, adding over 100 Million Tons of trash and create a mountain of garbage twice the current height. It is our belief that we have taken our fair share. Enough is enough.
HERE ARE SOME CONCERNING FACTS
• This mega-landfill currently accepts over 7,200 tons of trash per day.
• Only 36% of waste is from Pennsylvania; 64% comes from NY, NJ, and CT.
• 38% of in state waste comes from fracking drill cuttings and fluids.
• Lackawanna County represents 1.65% of the state's population, but bears the burden of ~10% of the state''s waste.
• It is built over mines known for subsidence.
• The Phase 3 permit application admits the landfill is leaking into our ground water.
• It is only 450’ from the Dunmore Reservoir #1, our backup drinking water supply.
• The run-off from the open sores of the Phase 3 trash mountain will not be treated and will be discharged directly into the Lackawanna River via Eddy’s Creek.
• The landfill accepts fracking drill cuttings and drilling mud. The cuttings are mixed with small amounts of naturally occurring radioactive elements, particularly radium-226.
• The percentage of Residual Waste continues to increase.
• High volume landfills (500 tons per day or more) decrease adjacent residential property values by 13.7% on average according to Richard C. Read in his article “Do Landfills Always Depress Nearby Property Values?” The bigger the landfill, the lower the home values
• Foul smells waft over the area often and reach over 4 miles in radius.
• Seagulls carrying disease and fracking contaminants coat our local lakes and reservoirs regularly.
And of most concern:
• Studies have shown living near landfills can reduce immune system function and lead to increased risks of certain types of cancer, including bladder, brain and leukemia, among people who live near landfills. Further, a study by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine also found that babies born to mothers who live near landfills have a significantly greater risk of birth defects.
Our area already has cancer rates higher than the national average. We cannot be exposed to any more risk. And this is not a case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). We have allowed the trash from NY and NJ into our backyard for decades. This is a case of enough! Simple as that.
As More facts come to light, we will be sure to share them here.
HOW WE GOT HERE
1973: Louis DeNaples and Dominic DeNaples take ownership of KSL.
Early 1987: Files permit with DER to expand operations into the borough of Throop.
April 1987: Throop Property Owners Association (TPOA) files complaint with PA Environmental Hearing Board in opposition of Permit.
April 1987: Department of Environmental Resources closes Keystone landfill and issues $500,000 in fines after the landfill operator ignored repeated warnings that the facility's capacity was exhausted and that the landfill's condition threatened to contaminate area ground water. Keystone's response was to sharply increase dumping of municipal waste from points in New Jersey, New York and Montgomery County. The DER order also said two of the three sites at the landfill have been filled with "solid wastes in excess of design capacity," and that Keystone submitted to DER an "erroneous engineer's certification" concerning the third site, which officials said was not prepared properly for solid waste.
August 1987: Throop Borough Council approves KSL expansion plans into Throop.
Late 1987: KSL announces plans to site a $120 Million trash incinerator in Dunmore.
Spring 1988: Citizens Alert Regarding the Environment (CARE)is formed with the mission to stop KSL's proposal to build a trash incinerator.
May 18, 1988: DER charged KSL with violating state waste control laws by arranging to dump 10 tractor-trailer loads of auto "fluff". The state charged KSL with 80 misdemeanor violations of the state's Solid Waste Management Act as well as criminal conspiracy to violate the act. DEP ordered the landfill closed for more than a month and fined Keystone $150,000, the maximum allowed under state law.
December 1988: CARE defeats KSL's proposed plans for a trash incinerator after rallying support from the Sierra Club, Jefferson Township, Dalton, Forest City, Throop, and Mid Valley.
Mid 1989: Throop Borough, the TPOA, and KSL enter a 3 way agreement to drop complaint TPOA filed in 1987 opposing expansion. The agreement calls for KSL to pay the Borough and the TPOA a supplemental $1.00 per ton plus an advance payment of $50,000.
Early 1990: Statistics compiled by local doctors indicate that Lackawanna County has much higher than average rates for cancer, serious birth defects, low birth weights, seizures and learning disabilities. Although state and federal health experts caution that such statistics may not point to any specific environmental hazard, many of the local residents and doctors are convinced otherwise.
May 5, 1990: KSL requests to run leachate line through Throop in exchange for $750,000. Throop rejects proposal but KSL wins court battle. KSL later decides not to run leachate line through Throop.
January 1994: KSL wants to expand into the borough of Throop. Throop fights back by working on a new zoning code that would prohibit expansion. KSL sues the Borough for $16 Million claiming that in the 1989 agreement the borough ''waived any claim" that Keystone's use of its Throop acreage conflicted with borough zoning laws. The new zoning law was a breach of the agreement and the actions of the town officials were an "outrageous, willful and deliberate" conspiracy.
November 2000: PA Department of Transportation wishes to take 122 acres of KSL by eminent domain to build the Casey Highway for an estimated $237 Million. PennDOT appeals and settles with KSL for $40.9 Million.
August 2009: DEP Approval for drill waste acceptance
December 2009: Fire ("Thermal Event") in Logan section of KSL.
February 2011: DEP grants approval to KSL to use drill cuttings as "Alternative daily cover."
March 2011: Fire ("Thermal Event") in Phase II section of KSL.
April 2012: State regulators have approved Keystone Sanitary Landfill's application to take in 2,500 more tons of waste daily, increasing its maximum daily disposal capacity from 5,000 to 7,500.
Early 2013: Breach of primary liner system of Phase II
January 2014: DEP approves moving waste from unlined Keystone/Dunmore dump to Phase II. This cuts Phase II's live from 9 to 5 years.
April 2, 2014: Keystone Sanitary Landfill Inc. files an application for a major permit modification with the state Department of Environmental Protection requesting permission to add almost 143 million cubic yards of vertical space to the landfill as part of its Phase III development project.
May 2014: Fire ("subsurface oxidation event") in Phase II.
July 2014: Dunmore Council decides to renegotiate Host Municipality Fee due to KSL proposed expansion plan. Dunmore currently only receives the state mandated minimum of $.41/ton.
August 2014: KSL requests acceptance of more drilling fluid waste which allows KSL to solidify drilling fluid solids for disposal and return usable water back to Southwestern Energy.
September 2014: Dunmore Council proposes new fee agreement with KSL with a raise from the state mandated minimum to $1.00/ton. Council tables the agreement after Core FOL member, Pat Clark, exposes the deficiencies in the agreement.
November 2014: Dunmore Council negotiated and accepted a new Host Municipality Agreement with Keystone Sanitary Landfill. As part of this agreement, KSL requested an opinion from the Zoning Officer confirming that the landfill is a pre-existing use as a landfill, and that it is not a building under the current zoning ordinance pertaining to maximum building height.
November 13, 2014: FOL Members meet with State Senator John Blake
December 2014: The Dunmore Zoning Officer confirmed KSL's position that the landfill is a pre-existing use and that it is not a building under the current zoning ordinances.
December 22, 1014: Congressman Cartwright wrote a letter asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study two particular environmental impacts that may have on our community. The first is the potential effect of a possible increase in drainage from an unlined section of the original landfill, and the potential harm to the surrounding environment and community. The second regards the additional stress caused by the significant increase in distributed weight above areas previously subjected to underground mining of anthracite coal in the region.
January 2015: Friends of Lackawanna along with three names appellants filed an appeal to the Dunmore Zoning Officer’s Opinion.
February 2015: KSL filed a petition for bond in the amount of $1.2 Million claiming our appeal was frivolous.
February 2015: Concerned residents and Rep Farina petition DOH for a public health assessment. Air quality, water quality, soil contamination and health concerns related to KSL and its close proximity to Dunmore Reservoir No. 1, YMCA, parks, daycares, schools.
March 2015: FOL sends formal letter to DOH petitioning for a public health assessment.
March 10, 2015: Friends of Lackawanna defended their appeal in the Court of Common Pleas against KSL's petition for bond.
March 11, 2015: Judge rules in favor of Friends of Lackawanna. No bond needed to pursue appeal.
March 19, 2015: Friends of Lackawanna to present their case against the Zoning Officer's Opinion.
March 20, 2015: Senator Casey holds Press Conference to formally announce opposition to KSL's expansion
March 26, 2015: Friends of Lackawanna continues presentation of their case to the Dunmore Zoning Board.
April 2015: DOH, ATSDR begin public health assessment for the area surrounding KSL.
April 23, 2015: FOL Meets with Congressman Matt Cartwright
April 27, 2015: Scranton Times reports An investigation pointing to Keystone Sanitary Landfill as the source of harmful hazardous gases traveling through former coal seams and into people's homes was mysteriously DROPPED by PADEP in 2000.
April 30, 2015: Congressman Cartwright issues Press Release stating opposition to KSL's expansion
April 30, 2015: Friends of Lackawanna rests their case to the Dunmore Zoning Board.
May 2, 2015: Scranton Times reports that Raw, untreated landfill leachate has entered the Scranton Sewer Authority system two times. The discharges came in 1999 and 2003.
May 7, 2015: Friends of Lackawanna appeals DEP's decision to renew KSL's operating permit.
May 14, 2015: KSL presents their side to the Dunmore Zoning Board
May 19, 2015: FOL Board Member, Vince Amico, is top vote getter in Dunmore Council primary race. Other Anti-expansion proponents win seats on November's ballots for County Commissioner (Jerry Notarianni and Patrick O'Malley) and Dunmore School Board (Francis X. Kranick)