"We established our strategy, decided how we can win this and now we are doing our damndest to execute the plan to the best of our ability." - Pat Clark summarizing the Friends of Lackawanna plan this past Friday on Corbett.
This segment provides a good summary of the current status of our activities, discusses the enormous effort FOL is putting forth and a call to action for people that want to get involved.
Thank you, Senator Blake, for citing these important issues regarding Keystone Sanitary Landfill's proposed expansion! Under current regulations, neither health studies nor environmental monitoring of areas impacted by a landfill are mandated. Without the ability to affirm the safety of our citizens, this expansion must be denied.
http://thetimes-tribune.com/…/sen-blake-talks-about-budget-…
Excerpt:
Citing issues raised by opponents of Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s proposed expansion, he also said it may be time to explore updating Pennsylvania’s recycling law to increase the dumping fees at landfills to fund additional recycling efforts, and to require municipalities to recycle more.
“I think if we don’t divert refuse from landfills, there will never be any incentive for them not to expand,” he said.
In addition, Mr. Blake said he is looking into legislation to require the state Department of Health to conduct health screenings of people who live in proximity to landfills. No such provision currently exists, he said.
“It should be obvious that that happens,” he said of the screenings.
January 30, 2016
In today's article, Friends of Lackawanna core member Pat Clark states, "the fact that no health studies are required by DEP regulations when considering a landfill expansion is an assault on common sense and an insult to those that bear the risk of having one within their community."
Amazingly, neither health studies nor ongoing monitoring of areas surrounding a landfill are required by DEP when considering a Landfill Expansion. We think that is dangerously unwise policy so we asked for one and it is underway. At some point, the decision makers will realize that this entire process if fatally flawed.
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/keystone-landfill-health-study-underway-1.2001479
January 28, 2016
"When you don't take action to stop something like this from happening, you have robbed a child of his or her future...and basic justice." - Senator Bob Casey
Our next post will outline the similarities between the absolutely avoidable contaminated water travesty in Flint, MI and what is happening in NEPA. We need to write/call and put pressure on our elected officials to act on our behalf now before more children are robbed of their future and basic justice.
Thank you, Dunmore Councilman, Vince Amico, for continuing to push the DEP to get answers, even if the answers are unacceptable.
Excerpt:
“It’s worrisome that ... the guilty party, whoever they may be, were able to get away with it essentially,” Mr. Amico said. “I can’t believe they weren’t able to find the culprit. It just seems wrong that someone wasn’t held accountable.”
January 26, 2016
FOL core member, Michele Dempsey, makes great points in today's Times-Tribune article regarding the leachate that KSL consultant, Al Magnotta, admitted they discharged into an unpermitted sewer line on the night of the horrid solvent incident that is now conveniently a "mistake" caused by "miscommunication" and they didn't actually discharge leachate--despite the fact the valve had been left open for an unknown amount of time! This is insulting to the citizen's intelligence.
Excerpt:
“It is unnerving and unacceptable that the DEP’s final answer to so many important questions is a shoulder shrug that only serves to raise even more questions,” said an emailed statement from one of the group’s leaders, Michele Dempsey. “There are relationships between the entities involved in this investigation that are preventing the community from getting answers. It’s time to look at the close relationships that exist between KSL and SSA ... and the cozy relationship between KSL and DEP that hints at the latter being a captured agency.”
Those close relationships include the fact that Keystone Sanitary Landfill (KSL) and the Scranton Sewer Authority (SSA) share the same solicitor, the same engineer and the owner and director of each company are close friends. And DEP often seems to be protecting KSL more than the citizens, as evidenced by not reporting that leachate was leaking into our ground water for over 12 years and not issuing a violation. Now they appear to have KSL's interests at heart again, saying the leachate incident was a "miscommunication".
Captured agency refers to a government agency unduly influenced by economic interest groups directly affected by its decisions. It shapes its regulations and policies primarily to benefit its favored client groups at the expense of less organized and often less influential groups rather than design them in accordance with some broader or more inclusive conception of the public interest.
http://thetimes-tribune.com/…/landfill-says-it-was-mistaken…
January 9th, 2016
Keystone Landfill wants a 50 year expansion. That's crazy enough. But what's even crazier is that they are "surprised" DEP actually wanted to see the full set of engineering plans and studies. FOL was asked for our reply and our take is in the story:
“Four more months won’t magically make this a good idea,” said Dunmore resident Pat Clark, one of the grass-roots group’s leaders. “Four more months doesn’t change the fact that this mega dump sits in the middle of our community. And four more months of shining a light on this expansion will only continue to prove that the harms outweigh the benefits. So KSL can have as much time as it wants because no amount of additional time can make this expansion a good plan for the future, health or reputation of our area.”
Read the whole story at the link below and let us know your thoughts:http://thetimes-tribune.com/…/dep-grants-keystone-sanitary-…
Chris Kelly reminds us that this opposition is a marathon, not a sprint. There will be peaks and valley's. 2015 is the year that the people found their voices and we are shouting to our elected officials in unison, "Enough is enough!"
Excerpt:
Let 2015 go down as the year Scranton began celebrating its 150th birthday and Lackawanna County finally started growing up.
A citizen-led fight against an indefensible 50-year expansion of Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore and Throop gained ground. Grassroots opposition to a natural-gas-fired power plant in Jessup spotlighted the folly of selling out small communities to giant corporations for a few jobs and a pittance paid in lieu of taxes.
http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/chris-kelly-road-to-recovery-a-marathon-not-a-sprint-1.1987811
Congratulations, Vince Amico! Both Dunmore and Northeastern PA are ready to stop accepting the status quo. It's time.
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/landfill-expansion-opponent-wins-seat-on-dunmore-council-1.1966753
Excerpts:
Accusing the Dunmore Zoning Board of bias, abuse of its discretion and errors in legal judgment, a grass roots group (Friends of Lackawanna) fighting Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s expansion plan appealed the zoning board’s decision that the landfill is not subject to the borough’s 50-foot height restriction.
“They got it wrong, and they had to ignore the law to (come to that decision),” Friends of Lackawanna attorney Jordan Yeager said. “We’re dealing with a powerful landowner who is used to getting his way. We expect to get a more fair hearing in the courts.”
We are still reading, analyzing and "peeling back the onion", but here are FOL's initial comment's on the DEP Environmental Assessment Letter:
1. As evidenced by its very detailed response letter, DEP is doing a thorough job in analyzing, and questioning, every element that Keystone submitted as purported Benefits.
2. We agree with all ten items that the DEP has indicated it will NOT consider as a Benefit. In the Harms-Benefits Analysis that Friends of Lackawanna submitted earlier this year, we also stated that each of those ten items should be disqualified.
3. We believe that as DEP receives more details on the six purported benefits it categorized as "require additional information," they too should be removed from the analysis.
4. As DEP keeps thoroughly peeling back this onion, the more "benefits" will be eliminated from consideration. What will be left is mostly items that revolve around money.
5. Ultimately, because many of the non-monetary benefits are correctly being disqualified, this analysis may come down to one simple variable: cash. Specifically, is the money that this Landfill has to pay either by statute (State fees or payments to host cities) or as a cost of doing business (payroll, goods and services), enough? Are those fees enough to let this Landfill dominate our region for the next five decades?
6. At some point, every benefit that KSL is given credit for will run out. However, the harms and potential harms can go on forever. Once the variable of time is taken into consideration, the benefits simply cannot outweigh the harms. And it isn't even close.
Read more in The Scranton Times.
The view of the landfill from the Dunmore Reservoir.
Another eye-opening editorial by FOL core member, Pat Clark. It's time to stand up for ourselves and hop out of the pot before we boil!
Excerpts:
Have you ever heard the boiling frog metaphor? If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will immediately jump out. If you place a frog in a pot of room-temperature water that is gradually heated, the frog will not notice the danger and will boil to death. Science may debate the actual reaction that the frog would have, but the metaphor rings true — it speaks to our general inability to react to threats and changes that gradually occur over time....
So, without detailed [health] information that covers an adequate sample size covering an acceptable time period, how could any agency reasonably conclude that a massive landfill expansion is safe for people in the surrounding communities? They cannot. To do so would be, at best, guessing, and at worst, putting the lives of the people they are supposed to protect at risk....
At some point, we need to stand up for ourselves and hop out of the pot before the water boils.
If the DEP is willing to grant any form of this expansion without enough health or environmental data, it is rolling the dice and gambling with people’s lives. That is an unnecessary, irresponsible and unacceptable risk.
From WNEP coverage:
The people who have been most vocally against the landfill expansion aren't satisfied.
"For us, there's not a happy compromise, you know, we've done our fair share for society and enough is enough," said Michele Dempsey of Friends of Lackawanna. "So, right now we feel that more harms are being added to our community and no benefits are really coming back from this and it's time to stop, enough is enough."
Excerpts From The Scranton Times:
The state Department of Environmental Protection requested the designs and a litany of other information from the Dunmore and Throop operation after finishing its first environmental assessment of the nearly half-century expansion proposal.
The agency issued its initial review in a letter to Keystone on Tuesday and released it to the public on Friday.
“Our initial reaction is that we are pleased to see that the DEP is taking many of the public’s concerns into consideration and are thoroughly evaluating them,” said Dunmore resident Pat Clark, one of the organization’s leaders. “However, just as we have (said) since our first reading of the harms/benefits analysis, it remains exceptionally clear that the overall harms for this project clearly outweigh the benefits.”
Friends, we are still reading through the DEP Environmental Assessment Review Letter. Initially, we are pleased to see that the DEP is taking many of the the public's concerns into consideration and are evaluating them. However, just as we have said since our first reading of the Harms Benefits Analysis, it remains exceptionally clear that the overall Harms for this project clearly outweigh the Benefits.
We will post more once we have had the opportunity to thoroughly evaluate the letter. A link to it is below.
“We want answers to all of our questions,” Ms. Dempsey [FOL core member] said Tuesday. “Saying we can’t find the source is not going to be good enough. We want accountability. This is a very serious incident and it can’t be shrugged off.”
There are 2 distinct issues here: 1) What was the solvent and the source of it? and 2) According to KSL's wastewater permit, there are no circumstances under which they can use the sewer line through Green Ridge, therefore: How often do they use it? How much leachate do they send down it? And how often? Who are they accountable to?
How does a modern landfill like Keystone Sanitary Landfill work? This short piece illustrates it. Scary. It is part of the independent film 'Now U Know' documenting the grassroots efforts to change the way we deal with trash.
Animation by: Brad Goodwin
Voice over by: Chris Kelley
https://vimeo.com/5413636
Thank you, Scranton City Council! Please don't stop the pressure until we have definitive answers!
Excerpt:
“Who monitors the different lines and when they are used, and who is monitoring the total (leachate) flow?” Mr. Wechsler asked.
Councilman Bill Gaughan agreed and wants council to ask the DEP and Scranton Sewer Authority “for all documentation relating to their investigation of a recent odor in Green Ridge that may be related to discharged treated leachate that runs under Green Ridge to the South Scranton sewer treatment plant
Well said, Patricia Sheehan!
Editor: On Monday, the Dunmore zoning board held its final meeting regarding the Keystone Sanitary Landfill to address the question of whether the facility is a structure or is not a structure.
After months of testimony from both sides, the final meeting was over in the blink of an eye. The appeal by Friends of Lackawanna, a landfill opposition group, regarding the findings by the zoning board officer, was denied. I would say that no one was really surprised by the outcome, but what I was surprised at was the way the meeting was conducted.
The board might have been expected to say something regarding the opinion it rendered. An insight into how the members arrived at their decision was when they thanked all concerned from both sides for the time and energy put into the testimony and research on the issue.
The meeting started with opening procedures, a motion was made to deny the appeal, the motion was seconded, a roll call was taken and the meeting was adjourned. I think both sides deserved an explanation for the ruling.
One concerned citizen before the meeting said if she had a cutout of Pope Francis, she would have brought it to the meeting. I don’t think the pope, with his concern about the environment, could have helped us in Dunmore.
PATRICIA SHEEHAN
SCRANTON
Not only do we want conclusive answers as to the source of the sickening smell regardless of where it came from, we also want answers to a series of questions this incident has raised including how often leachate runs through the Green Ridge Line and how much. Real answers. FOL will not stop asking until our community gets answers.
Excerpt:
The foul ooze slithered beneath the streets, raising a stink that curdled the night air. Families were stirred from their beds. Travelers were sent packing, the disabled were evacuated and enforcement agencies gathered to collect evidence in the wee hours. What it was and from where it came from remains a mystery...
http://m.thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/chris-kelly-it-came-from-1.1952650
WE'RE CONFUSED: Al Magnotta has already admitted that "treated leachate" was discharged into the Green Ridge Line last week (due to pump failure for the dedicated line) at that same time a foul smell from that sewer line caused the evacuation of St. Joe's and Sleep Inn. Now he seems to be saying that if the pump breaks down the pre-treatment plant stops working and raw, untreated leachate pools in lagoons. QUESTION: If the pumps were broken and the plant was down, then how could the leachate running through Green Ridge possibly be "treated"? He seems to be back-tracking when he says that even if it was untreated, “the untreated stuff really doesn’t smell too bad.”
Excerpt from the Times-Tribune, October 2, 2015:
The pumping station that ordinarily sends treated leachate through a dedicated line that runs through Dunmore’s Bunker and Sport hills and on through Scranton’s Hill Section has an automated connection to the landfill’s on-site treatment plant, Mr. Magnotta said. When the pumping station goes off-line, so does the plant.
That plant was shut down early Sept. 25 through Thursday morning, Mr. Magnotta said. When that happens, leachate can pool in the landfill’s lagoons that hold 11 million gallons.
Landfill staff and DEP officials searched for evidence of some type of gravity line that led from the pump station to the sewer line, but no such line exists, he said.
Even if it did, it does not explain the smell, he said. The landfill’s treatment plant strips out the type of chemicals the DEP measured above manholes that night and “the untreated stuff really doesn’t smell too bad,” he said.
MORE CONFUSION:
Al Magnotta states: “We provided them [DEP and EPA] a lot of information and maps they don’t have."
Paraphrasing a comment to the Times-Tribune article,
how is that possible given the fact that KSLis requesting a new 50 year permit? At this point, DEP should have all that information and they should be able to describe in detail every single process and square foot of the operation.
