The Editorial Board at the The Scranton Times-Tribune lays out the exact problem at DEP - it is a captured agency fighting on behalf of expanding polluting industries instead of the citizens it is designed to protect. The title is, sadly, directly on point: "Your state government not at work."
An excerpt: "It’s known as regulatory capture — when the legislative, legal and regulatory machinery of government is in thrall to regulated industries rather than to protecting the public from them."
The entire editorial (and link to the online version) is below.
Your state government not at work
BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The state Department of Environmental Protection’s approval of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s massive expansion is an equally massive failure of the state government to protect the public interest.
Allowing the huge dump to expand for four more decades and import another 94 million tons of garbage, mostly from other states, illustrates that state environmental regulation primarily is for the benefit of the regulated rather than for the greater good — democratic governance stood on its head.
It’s known as regulatory capture — when the legislative, legal and regulatory machinery of government is in thrall to regulated industries rather than to protecting the public from them. It has characterized the Legislature’s approach to the natural gas industry for decades, and to the landfill business for longer than that.
The DEP that approved this abomination is the same one that, a few years ago, could not detect odors emanating from the landfill that were obvious to anyone with a working nose.
And the agency went the extra mile this time to accommodate the landfill. It thumbed its nose at the public and the state attorney general by approving the project two weeks after the prosecutor’s office confirmed an investigation of the landfill, apparently regarding wastewater.
The DEP acknowledged but blithely dismissed issues raised by expansion opponents. To concerns that the addition of 188 billion pounds of garbage to the landfill might affect nearby property values, the DEP said an appraiser found that existing landfill operations have not done so. As for the future, well, don’t worry, says the DEP, the landfill has committed to a property value protection plan.
Lawmakers, local officials failDEP’s approval is rooted in state law that requires the bare minimum, mere regulatory compliance, rather than addressing whether projects that inherently degrade the environment, such as gas drilling or the addition of 126.5 million cubic yards to the landfill — truly serve the public interest.
Newly minted state Sen.-elect Marty Flynn, for example, a state representative for a decade, even now cannot bring himself to condemn the expansion despite its negative impact on his district. His campaign slogan was “he’s got your back,” which is true if you own a landfill.
He’s not alone. Dunmore Borough Council, until recently, let the landfill, which is owned by the wealthy and politically influential DeNaples family of Dunmore, do pretty much what it wanted because the borough receives host municipality fees. For example, council snoozed as landfill officials argued that it is not a dump, but a high-tech, state-of-the-art engineering marvel — yet, not a “structure” for the purpose of zoning.
Throop borough, too, has taken a hands-off approach. After the approval, council President Rich Kucharski deferred to the DEP and figuratively rubbed his hands over the prospect of the borough receiving $2 a ton for the next 40-plus years.
Friends of Lackawanna, landfill opponents who made a convincing case against its expansion, plan to appeal, but that is an uphill battle.
DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly noted that Keystone would have to obtain permit renewals every 10 years, which “theoretically” could result in early closure. “Theoretically” is a well-chosen word, since she could not cite a case where that actually has happened.
This disgraceful decision requires a recalibration of state environmental law, not only in terms of specific regulation but the larger question of the state government’s purpose if it is just going to get out of the way of powerful and harmful special interests.