Dunmore Council President Janet Brier called the increased scrutiny long overdue, though she criticized the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for failing to penalize the landfill for the violations. Without penalties, the notices of violation are a “paper tiger,” she said.

“Does it take like 100 notices of violation? Does it take 200?” Brier said of penalties. “We have no idea what the consequences of these notices are. Right now, there haven’t been any.”

Pat Clark, a leader of grassroots group Friends of Lackawanna, echoed Brier, commending DEP for issuing violations but questioning the repercussions.

“We’re now a full year into this nonstop string of problems, and at some point, is anyone at DEP or in the Pennsylvania government going to step up and say, ‘Clearly, there’s a much bigger problem here, and this needs to end’?” Clark asked.

Clark called for the state to shut down the landfill.

“The landfill needs to have a firmly identified end-of-life plan put in place and executed upon,” he said.