Dive Brief:
- Activists opposed to a major expansion of the Dunmore, PA, Keystone Sanitary Landfill — which could extend the site's capacity for nearly five decades — recently submitted their own environmental analysis of how they predict the proposed expansion could impact the surrounding area and its watershed.
- Friends of Lackawanna’s letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said that state officials — who they claim are more concerned with how the project will infuse the local economy with money — should instead be asking how the local government will deal with the harmful effects created with an extension to the landfill's lifespan, including pollution in the watershed. Friends of Lackawanna filed its analysis to the PA DEP last week.
- Keystone officials have said the landfill expansion, if allowed, would stimulate the economy of the region. The company predicts the expansion would inject $865 million into the local economy.
Dive Insight:
Friends of Lackawanna contends the landfill and region has already received what they consider an inordinate amount of Pennsylvania trash and garbage from other states, to the tune currently of 7,200 tons per day. The group also has said that because the landfill is built atop a network of old mines, the stability of the landfill could be compromised.
The EPA's deadline for public comment came on Friday, and although five of the seven members of the Dunmore Borough Council have said they oppose the expansion, the Council did not choose to submit a formal position.
