LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Great questions in today’s Letter to the Editor, Victor! We need more public meetings to get answers.

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
March 10, 2015

Landfill questions

Editor: I attended the recent state Department of Environmental Protection meeting at Dunmore High School on the proposed Keystone Sanitary Landfill expansion.

I was encouraged by the size and diversity of the crowd and that no one spoke for the expansion — all were against it. I was dismayed that the questions from the floor were all determined before the meeting started, so that I did not get to ask mine, which was why are the landfill and the state considering an almost 50-year proposal?

This would saddle almost three generations to come with a mountain of garbage, with little or no ability to control or change it. I will not be here in 50 years. Mr. DeNaples will not be here in 50 years. He says it’s his family’s business, but how much is enough?

This landfill should be capped in five years when its current contract expires, and the communities of Dunmore and Throop should ask themselves how they will replace the revenue from it, other than by raising

property taxes.

Another question I would like to pose is, has the DEP had contact with Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration about this issue? Everyone should contact Wolf’s office and ask them to look into this and write to the DEP against the approval of the permit.

VICTOR GRAMIGNA-ROBERTSON

THROOP

http://m.thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor-3-10-2015-1.1845603

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A powerful, thought-provoking Letter to the Editor in today’s Times-Tribune by Tony Acquaviva.  Thank you!

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
March 9, 2015

Appeal to morality

Editor: “So my question to you, with all your resources and your wealth and your power, is there a better way to dispose of garbage in an environmentally friendly way that would not negatively impact our future or our children’s future?”

That was a question Katherine Mackrell Oven posed to Keystone Sanitary Landfill owner Louis DeNaples at a recent public meeting with state environmental regulators. The question was really more an appeal to Mr. DeNaples’ sense of ethics and morality in the face of overwhelming community opposition to the proposed landfill expansion.

His response, “It’s the business we’re in, the business (my family) started.”

Like the familiar movie line “…it’s just business….” If a business passes legal muster regarding all phases of its operations, does that provide absolution of any responsibility toward the communities in which those operations take place?

Seemingly so. The moral and ethical implications of Ms. Oven’s question were completely lost on Mr. DeNaples. The surrounding communities are increasingly pleading, “Enough is enough.”

He should not regard these pleas as just another business and public relations challenge to be overcome, but a direct appeal to his sense of morality and responsibility to the communities that have supported him and enabled him and his family to succeed.

By the gardens they nurtured, my Italian grandparents taught our family love and respect for the very dirt that is the source of our health and the health of our community. They never lost touch with their humble roots. Mr. DeNaples should look deep into his own roots and deep into his own heart and do the right thing.

TONY ACQUAVIVA

ELMHURST TWP.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor-3-9-2015-1.1845257

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Lauren Telep poses questions that we need answers to in today’s Times-Tribune Letter to the Editor.  She also states, “The people do not want this landfill expansion.”  We agree!  Thanks, Lauren!

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
March 9, 2015

Landfill detractor

Editor: I attended the recent state Department of Environmental Protection meeting at Dunmore High School involving Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s expansion proposal.

The DEP practically denied the odor of the dump. Perhaps they could wait a few more weeks, travel on the Casey Highway to the Throop exit, open their windows and take a deep breath. Maybe the landfill will offer tours when it is 75 degrees or hotter outside and just not in the winter when it’s below freezing.

How could this expansion be approved?

I am sure PennDOT has information on the hundreds of tractor-trailers with trash traveling on Interstates 380 and 80 that are damaging our roads in Lackawanna County and between here and the New Jersey border.

Let’s get the state politicians to stop the garbage coming into our state. Let New Jersey, New York and Connecticut keep their own garbage. If the expansion cannot be slowed down, let’s stop garbage coming across the state’s border.

The people do not want this landfill expansion. Our rights as citizens of Pennsylvania for fresh air, fresh water and scenic views are being violated. Where are the politicians we voted for and why are they not fighting for the people who want this stopped?

Perhaps in the next election, we can vote them out of office.

LAUREN TELEP

OLYPHANT

http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor-3-9-2015-1.1845257

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Janet Brier, we could not agree with you more!  As you state in today’s Letter to the Editor in the Times-Tribune, the people deserve another public meeting with unbiased experts who can answer our questions.  Well said!

Sunday Times, Scranton, PA
Letters to the Editor
March 8, 2015

Wants another landfill hearing

Editor: I recently attended the forum at Dunmore High School sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to help gauge the harms and benefits of Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s expansion application.

On the stage were four DEP staff members at one table and the landfill owner and his engineer at the other table.

There were no unbiased waste disposal experts to answer questions from citizens.

The applicant’s engineer, Al Magnotta, answered many questions with, “Well, in my opinion …” and at one point answered emphatically, “No, no no,” when asked if there have been subsurface incidents at the landfill.

Roger Bellas, waste management program director for DEP, had to remind Mr. Magnotta that there were, in fact, several such incidents. Clearly, Mr. Magnotta and landfill owner Louis DeNaples have a vested interest in presenting the application in the best possible light regardless of the truth.

Mr. Bellas answered many questions with “I don’t know, I just recently came over from air quality” and DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly treated the concerned and well-behaved citizens in attendance with scorn, disdain and rudeness. This occurred after she admitted that her quote in The Times-Tribune saying the permitting process “was just a matter of law” also was not true.

Truth seemed to be a very scarce commodity at the meeting.

I don’t know who was responsible for setting up that biased format for the meeting, nor can I see how DEP will use that meeting as a basis to assess the project’s potential harms and benefits. In light of the farcical aspects of this one-time opportunity for the public to ask questions concerning this incredibly important issue, I urge DEP Acting Secretary John Quigley to convene a new public meeting that includes unbiased municipal waste disposal experts who can answer our questions with knowledge and honesty.

JANET M. BRIER

DUNMORE

http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor-3-8-2015-1.1844707

DEP FACES SMELL TEST

Another spot on editorial by the Times-Tribune Editorial Board!  This lack of malodor violations issue is preposterous. As the editorial states: The whole thing stinks!

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
Editorial Board
March 1, 2015

DEP Faces Smell Test

Whether the public has confidence in decisions by regulatory agencies that are supposed to represent the public interest is not a matter of the agency’s authority under the law. It’s a matter of public trust.

In that regard, the state Department of Environmental Protection got off to a rocky start Wednesday evening as it conducted its first public hearing to consider the proposed massive expansion of the Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore and Throop.

Hundreds of people in Dunmore High School’s auditorium issued a collective guffaw when Roger Bellas, waste management program director for the DEP, said that the agency had not confirmed any “malodors” beyond the dump’s own property.

Thus, the agency suggested that the evidence of people’s own noses and watery eyes might not be a factor because it hasn’t been confirmed by other means.

People who live near the dump — and as far away as Moosic Lakes in Jefferson Twp. — and travel the Casey Highway or the nearby interstates that pass near the dump, have detected and complained about “malodors” well beyond the dump perimeter.

It’s not just a matter of agreeing to disagree. Whether the dump stinks beyond its boundaries is part of a harms/benefits analysis that state agencies must perform in considering whether to approve the expansion.

Mr. Bellas announced that the state Department of Health will participate in an examination of how the dump expansion would affect public health, which is to the good. But that can’t truly be known because it is impossible to account for all potential issues relative to the expansion over the next 40 to 50 years.

Ultimately, the dump expansion is not simply a regulatory matter. The DEP has the authority and the expertise to place conditions on the operation to ensure that it deposits its next 120 million tons of trash in accordance with state regulations.

But that doesn’t go to the heart of the matter — whether the construction of a 400-foot mountain of garbage at the heart of one of Lackawanna County’s most heavily traveled areas; whether the further establishment of this area as a regional dumping ground for the East Coast — is good for Northeast Pennsylvania.

No DEP monitoring equipment is necessary to answer. In that regard, the whole thing stinks.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/dep-faces-smell-test-1.1840965

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A great Letter to the Editor by Fran Graytok reminds us that the Lackawanna River feeds the Chesapeake and Susquehanna Watershed, which is drinking water for many communities.  Leachate making to to our river is a federal issue. 

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
Editorial Board
March 1, 2015

Fight dump federally

Editor: I live in Susquehanna County, so I am not directly affected by the proposed expansion of Keystone Sanitary Landfill. My hat goes off to Friends of Lackawanna for their effort to defeat the proposed expansion.

I keep hearing that this is a local and state issue. The magnitude is far greater than that. When then-state Rep. Jim Wansacz fought the importation of out-of-state trash, we were told nothing could be done to stop it because it was interstate commerce. If that’s so, federal regulations should apply in Keystone’s case.

Also, the Environmental Protection Agency has ordered communities in the Lackawanna Valley to update stormwater and sewer systems in a comprehensive plan to clean up Chesapeake Bay. Keystone has had a leachate problem for 12 years. This pollution goes into the Lackawanna River, a tributary of the Susquehanna, which feeds the Chesapeake. With 50 more years of garbage, the amount of toxic material from the leachate entering the river could be astronomical. Some communities get their drinking water from the Susquehanna.

My advice to Friends of Lackawanna is to search for bigger support. This is a federal issue because EPA has issued rules to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Friends of Lackawanna should seek the support of senators from New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland and representatives from the dozen-plus congressional districts encompassing the Susquehanna watershed, from New York to Maryland.

It would be a shame if all the efforts that have gone into cleaning up the bay are negated by the effects of Keystone’s leachate runoff. Expansion is a bad and dangerous idea. The proposal should be denied. Let the landfill close. We’ll get by without it. If we have to pay more for trash disposal, so be it.

FRAN GRAYTOCK

UNION DALE

http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor-3-1-2015-1.1840967

CROWD JEERS AS DEP TALKS ABOUT NOT FINDING MALODORS AT KEYSTONE LANDFILL

Friends, we are proud to stand together with you.  This article outlining the events of the night proves that raising our voices is making a difference.  We will not stop!

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
Kyle Wind, Staff Writer
February 26, 2015

Excerpts:

Throughout the meeting, audience members questioned DEP and landfill officials about aspects of the expansion — like the potential impact on property values, air and groundwater quality, the skyline and the odor. No audience member spoke in support of the plan Wednesday night.

At some points, exchanges became tense and emotional, like when Mr. Bellas told the audience dotted with green Friends of Lackawanna shirts that the agency has not confirmed any “malodors” outside of the Keystone facility.

The crowd erupted and jeered after his statement. Numerous area residents have told The Times-Tribune the landfill’s odor can be strong in different points across the area, most notably on the Casey Highway but as far away as Jefferson Twp. at times.

Michele Dempsey, one of the Friends of Lackawanna leaders, at one point asked if the landfill has ever had any emergencies like underground fires, landslides or mine subsidences.

Mr. Magnotta, flanked by Keystone co-owner Louis DeNaples, initially responded the operation had not. Mr. Bellas corrected him, saying the agency had investigated two “subsurface oxidation incidents,” a chemical reaction that gives off heat, at the facility — which drew another vocal reaction from the crowd.

Mr. DeNaples was silent throughout nearly the entire meeting. At one point, Mr. Magnotta answered a question directed at him, but Mr. DeNaples did respond when Ms. Oven addressed him.

“This landfill expansion will negatively impact my family, my young children. They breathe the air and drink the water,” she said. “So my question to you is, with all of your resources and your wealth and your power, is there a better way to dispose of garbage in an environmentally friendly way that would not negatively impact our future and our children’s future?”

“It’s the business we’re in,” Mr. DeNaples responded. “It’s the business (my family) started.”

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/crowd-jeers-as-dep-talks-about-not-finding-malodors-at-keystone-landfill-1.1839257

NEXT STEPS AFTER DEP LANDFILL MEETING

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
Brendan Gibbons, Staff Reporter
February 27, 2015

Next steps are outlined by Brendan Gibbons in today’s Times-Tribune:

Less than a year remains in state Department of Environmental Protection’s review of Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s plan to expand.

The DEP held a packed community meeting at Dunmore High School on Wednesday where residents asked DEP staff, Keystone consultant Albert Magnotta and owner Louis DeNaples a wide range of questions.

The DEP is in its first 120-day review of the landfill’s application in which officials examine it for its overall environmental impact, along with its harms-versus-benefits analysis.

The first public comment period, which opened Jan. 3, extends until Thursday.

In the coming weeks, the DEP will hold a public hearing exclusively to take testimony from residents, unlike Wednesday’s question-and-answer session. The date has not been announced.

The DEP will follow with two more environmental assessments, then a technical review. DEP officials expect to make their final decision in January 2016.

Meanwhile, anti-landfill group Friends of Lackawanna’s appeal moves forward regarding the Dunmore’s zoning officer’s decision on the landfill’s height. Dunmore’s zoning hearing board scheduled hearings at 6:30 p.m. March 19, March 26 and April 2 at the Dunmore Community Center.

The appeal centers on whether Dunmore’s zoning code can restrict the landfill’s height.

— BRENDAN GIBBONS

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/next-steps-after-dep-landfill-meeting-1.1840380

MORE INFORMATION NEEDED AFTER LANDFILL MEETING, ATTENDEES SAY

In the aftermath of the DEP public meeting on Wednesday, it is clear that we must demand more time to study the potentially devastating impacts of the landfill expansion, as residents noted in the Time-Tribune article by Brendan Gibbons. 

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
Brendan Gibbons, Staff Writer
February 26, 2015

Exerpts.
More information. More time.

Those were the requests of several members of the public who attended a state environmental regulators’ meeting Wednesday night regarding Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s proposed expansion.

“I had many more questions,” said Scranton resident Geri Flannery, who took the podium twice to press Keystone landfill consultant Albert Magnotta and officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“Four hours is not enough to give the general public to ask questions,” she said, adding that the landfill has had years to prepare for its expansion.

Only new regulations will combat some of the quality of life issues residents raised.

Mr. Scavo’s question for legislators: “Why are we trying to build garbage as our premier industry?”

“The fight isn’t here with (Louis) DeNaples or the DEP,” he said. “The fight is with your legislators. Any legislator that isn’t in tune with this issue should have primary opposition.”

Friends of Lackawanna brought its members out in force. They sat in a green-shirted bloc in the center of the auditorium and one by one approached the podium to ask questions derived from months of research.

Core member and Dunmore resident Pat Clark said the meeting likely informed those who didn’t have a wealth of background knowledge, but “a lot of this is what we already knew.”

Public opposition to the expansion is obvious, he said.

“The officials tried to answer as best they could, but it was obvious that the community is speaking loud and clear what should be the outcome of this expansion application,” he said.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/more-information-needed-after-landfill-meeting-attendees-say-1.1839692

INDEPENDENT ENGINEER RELEASES REPORT ON KEYSTONE LANDFILL EXPANSION APPLICATION

An independent engineering report “identified dozens of unanswered questions”.  We must demand answers.  Join us for the DEP Public Meeting on February 25 at 6pm at the Dunmore Highschool Auditorium to let the DEP know we don’t want an expansion that will allow the landfill to continue to further harm to our community!

Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA
Brendan Gibbons, Staff Writer
February 18, 2015

Excerpts:
Independent engineers found discrepancies and missing information in Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s proposals for managing stormwater and groundwater, though they found the application “meets industry standards.”

However, they identified dozens of unanswered questions. Efforts to reach the firm’s president, Rick Bodner, were unsuccessful.

Mr. Lukasewicz [ Throop council President ] pointed to a series of findings that stood out to him: Although DEP regulations do not impose a limit on landfill heights, the department has historically imposed height restrictions on some landfills based on visual impacts, the report states.

Mr. Lukasewicz also worries Keystone will one day accept most of its waste from industrial processes, such as natural gas drilling, instead of municipal garbage.

He characterized the stormwater issues in the report as crucial, including how the landfill’s stormwater runoff interacts with Eddy Creek.

“How can you even entertain this without knowing where the stormwater is going to go?” he asked.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/independent-engineer-releases-report-on-keystone-landfill-expansion-application-1.1834928

WANSACZ ON THE RECORD AGAIN IN 2007 STANDING FOR THE PEOPLE AND AGAINST A LANDFILL. WHAT CHANGED, MR. WANSACZ?

Mr. Wansacz  on the record again in 2007. This time he is fighting Alliance’s ISO certification.

“…these folks are not just my constituents, they are my friends and my neighbors. None of them deserves to live with the by-products of the Alliance Landfill in their air and water. No one deserves to look at a mountain of garbage on the hillside overlooking their kitchen window. Not one deserves to live in fear of "an indeterminate public health hazard.”

Where is Mr. Wansacz’s concern for the people of Dunmore, Throop and the surrounding valley? What has changed so drastically in the last 7 years that now it is okay to not have an opinion about an expansion that will span over 5 decades and soar 475 feet in the air? What changed, Mr. Wansacz?

Wansacz

CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS SEEK TO STEP UP FRACKING OVERSIGHT

We hope that the congressional panel looks closely at this issue. Our health, environment, and future generations depend on it. Perhaps it is time for our elected representatives to change the law to mirror existing landfill regulations form NY and NJ

Congressional Democrats seek to step up fracking oversight

“Democrats on a congressional oversight panel are stepping up their investigation into how well states are regulating the disposal of oil and gas waste, citing continuing public concern about the potential environmental and health risks of hydraulic fracturing.”

LACKAWANNA COUNTY COMMISSIONER JIM WANSACZ DOES NOT HAVE POSITION ON LANDFILL EXPANSION YET

image

Funny - when Wansacz was in the House of Representative, he said “Landfills don’t make great neighbors.” To put his statement in context he was talking about them not being good neighbors to cemeteries. While I agree, do landfills make great neighbors to the living? We think not. We ask that Wansacz to reconsider his present day point of view in favor of his 2009 point of view.

Full content from 2009 Letter:
TO: Ali i-louse Members
Honorable Jim Wansacz
February 24,2009
RE: Co-sponsorship of legislation to enhance the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act by prohibiting landfills from being located within a half mile of a cemetery Formerly House Bill 1123 of 2007-2008

Landfills don’t make good neighbors. With the noise, odor and health concerns created by landfills it is no wonder that most landfill proposals are greeted with local protests and anger. While we can’t yet get rid of landfills all together, we can outline a strategy to locate
landfills in the areas where they will be least disruptive and harmful to the surrounding environment.

This legislation attempts to protect the integrity of our cemeteries by preventing excessive noise, odors and potential soil contaminants in the direct vicinity of the cemetery. It is unaccepiable io imagine that burial ceremonles might be disrupted by the sound- of heavy


machinery or potential blasting. Further, the noise and pollution from the increased traffic associated with landfills is a disruption to family members and friends attempting to visit loved ones.

Wansacz Position

LANDFILL FIGHT ATTRACTING FRIENDS

Chris Kelly blogs about our first Community Meeting last night. 

Excerpt:

LANDFILL FIGHT ATTRACTING FRIENDS

All roads lead back to Dunmore.

About 15 years ago, I was the Dunmore correspondent for The Times-Tribune. It was a great beat, and I made my share of friends and enemies, some of whom I ran into last night at the Dunmore Borough Community Center.

Friends of Lackawanna, a new nonprofit fighting the gargantuan proposed expansion of Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore and Throop, hosted an informational meeting about the state of the fight.

“We’re still in the middle innings,” Friends of Lackawanna member and Dunmorean Pat Clark told a standing-room-only audience that went home with T-shirts and yard signs reading,  “Say no to landfill expansion.”

Read Kyle Wind‘s coverage of the meeting here.

The next big step forward is a Feb. 25 hearing with state Department of Environmental Protection officials. Friends of Lackawanna challenged the crowd to pack the hearing and bring friends. If the crowd’s reaction is any indication, the DEP officials will be hearing voices for days afterward.

Friends of Lackawanna is mounting a disciplined, professional campaign against the landfill expansion. Winning is a long shot, but the group is gaining momentum and members in every corner of Our Stiff Neck of the Woods.

It is inspiring to see citizens stand up for their communities and the generations who will someday call this valley home. If you recognize that this is a regional issue that could damage us all for decades to come, I’ll see you at the hearing.

Visit the Friends of Lackawanna Facebook page or website today.

Get informed. Get involved. Get together.