THE BURDEN: The Keystone Sanitary Landfill started as a neighborhood dump. Since then, it has already buried over 30 million tons of garbage, has now proposed to expand for another 40+ years, adding another 100 million tons of trash, and cementing a region's reputation as the dumping ground for the Northeast.
THE OPPOSITION: Public Officials should listen to, and represent, the citizens they represent. In this video, that is what the pubic officials of Northeastern PA are doing: standing up for our future and standing against a Landfill's proposed mammoth expansion.
IT’S BUSINESS: The third installment of FOL's video series covering Keystone Sanitary Landfill's proposed 40+ year expansion. This video focuses on the split between a community's future and one company's bottom line.
Video: A Look Back at our Fight Thus Far
Friends of Lackawanna and their unending fight makes headlines.
Here's just a small sampling of some pictures and renderings of the landfill currently, and what it can look like at the completion of Phase III.
Aerial Photo of keystone sanitary landfill
Taken from a regional jet flying from Scranton-Wilkes Barre International Airport, this photograph shows the current landscape of the landfill as of late 2014.
Swinick's Development, Dunmore
A before and after rendering of a home in the Swinick's development of Dunmore, PA. The before picture on top shows the view of the landfill's peak at its current height. The After picture on the bottom, shows the same home's view of the landfill at the end of Phase III's expansion.
View from home in Olyphant, PA
A view of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill from a home in Olyphant TODAY! So many people in our area bought their homes when the landfill wasn't an eyesore and/or when they believed it would close at the end of their existing permit. This is why Senator Casey raised the question about how much garbage one area or one community should reasonably have to accept before it seriously degrades our quality of life and poses so many potential risks to our health, safety and welfare.
A view of Keystone Sanitary Landfill from Dickson City today and what it could look like if the permit is accepted and it reaches capacity. It is gut-wrenching to see our views degraded today and sickening to see what could be. Please keep writing to our elected officials and the DEP to tell them we oppose this atrocity. Your voices are making a difference. Don't dump our future!
P.S. Any community in Pennsylvania with a landfill, this could be you. By DEP regulations, there is no end to how large a landfill can get as long as it is "technically sound" and the airspace and/or land is available. Check your zoning codes today and watch who you vote into council and onto your zoning boards as the existing landfill permit begins to expire.
The two images above are of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill as seen from the Interstate 81 South.
The attendees of FOL's "Let's Talk Trash" public meeting watch a short film prepared for the occasion.
A view of KSL from Dunmore Reservoir #1, Dunmore’s backup water supply.
A view of KSL from the Reeves Street bridge, which connects the Keystone Industrial Park to the Swinicks neighborhood in Dunmore.
Sherwood park sits in the shadow of Keystone Sanitary Landfill. The Landfill threatens the health of each child who plays there daily. Is this the neighbor you’d choose?