Editorial

EDITORIAL: DUMP GROWS; POLITICAL VISION WITHERS

Silence is consent.

Excerpts: Published: November 26, 2014

Out on the stump, when they’re trying to impress voters, local politicians never suggest that their love of Northeast Pennsylvania, or their willingness to go the last mile to promote and protect it, is limited by the narrow scope of their offices.

But when a massive garbage dump with politically influential owners wants the state government to approve an expansion that will bring more than 100 million more tons of out-of-state garbage to one of the most visible and heavily traveled areas of Lackawanna County, most of those politicians head to their bunkers rather than mount the bully pulpit.

Vision, not just compliance, is the issue

This issue isn’t about mere landfill operations. It’s about a vision for the future. It’s stunning that no one in the local legislative delegation other than Rep. Mike Carroll, of Avoca, recognizes that the perpetual expansion of gigantic garbage dumps, no matter how well they comply with regulations, is not in the area’s interest.

 

LANDFILL ANALYSIS PITS MONEY VS. INTANGIBLES

Excellent rebuttal to the Harms/Benefit Analysis by Pat Clark in the Times-Tribune today.

Excerpt:

Pat Clark, a Dunmore resident and co- founder of online recruiting software company Hyrell, has been following the expansion closely, going through the harms-benefits analysis and making notes.

“I think the whole process is largely a sham,” he said.

The core of the problem is that the landfill lists benefits with a dollar amount, while harms are not quantified, he said.

“Not one harm has a dollar amount on it other than the cost to repave the road that the dump trucks are going to use to get into the landfill,” he said, though he acknowledged it would be difficult to place a dollar value on something like an unobstructed view of the mountains.

Plus, some of those benefits — payroll, taxes and expenses — are also part of the cost of doing business, he said, and shouldn’t be considered.

“Those are mandatory things you have to do as a business to make more money,” he said.

 

LANDFILL CONSULTANT WEIGHS IN ON HARMS/BENEFIT ANALYSIS & UNSURPRISINGLY OMITS HARMS

An editorial by the landfill’s consultant is in the paper today. Once again, we are being told that we can’t possibly live without the landfill and we would be lost without their monetary “benefits”, which the consultant quantifies over 50 years. There are several glaring omissions to this article and to the Harms/Benefit analysis, including the the fact that the landfill is leaking and already contaminating our groundwater. Another glaring omission includes quantifying the harms over the next 50 years. What is that number? And what are the unquantifiable harms (i.e. people not moving to Dunmore/Throop/our area and the impact on taxes and businesses)? Members of Friends of Lackawanna have read through the Harms/Benefit analysis from the Phase 3 permit application in depth and will be sharing our feedback very soon. In the mean time, please message if you would like a copy of the Harms/Benefit analysis from the permit application.